A rescue plan for nature

Call for Submissions: Planetary Pediatrics and Child Health.

Interventions based upon collaboration with natural support systems offer much promise for the field of alcohol and other drug abuse (AOD), particularly in conununities of color. The emerging acceptance of cultural competence facilitates the use of natural support systems in the development of interventions. This article will describe a program that utilizes natural support systems in three communities-of-color in a northern California city and will provide the reader with an understanding of the challenges and rewards of using these natural systems to reach undervalued populations.

In 1543, Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus challenged the view that the Sun revolved around the Earth, arguing instead that the Earth revolved around the Sun. His paper led to a revolution in thinking-to a new worldview. Eco-Economy discusses the need today for a similar shift in our worldview. The issue now is whether the environment is part of the economy or the economy is part of the environment. Lester R. Brown argues the latter, pointing out that treating the environment as part of the economy has produced an economy that is destroying its natural support systems. Brown notes that if China were to have a car in every garage, American style, it would need 80 million barrels of oil a day-more than the world currently produces. If paper consumption per person in China were to reach the U.S. level, China would need more paper than the world produces. There go the world's forests. If the fossil fuel-based, automobile-centered, throwaway economic model will not work for China, it will not work for the other 3 billion people in the developing world-and it will not work for the rest of the world. But Brown is optimistic as he describes how to restructure the global economy to make it compatible with the Earth's ecosystem so that economic progress can continue. In the new economy, wind farms replace coal mines, hydrogen-powered fuel cells replace internal combustion engines, and cities are designed for people, not cars. Glimpses of the new economy can be seen in the wind farms of Denmark, the solar rooftops of Japan, and the bicycle network of the Netherlands. Eco-Economy is a road map of how to get from here to there.

There is a growing body of literature on the importance of natural support systems in the lives of elders of color. It is impossible to talk about cultural competence without utilizing natural support systems as a central component in service delivery. This article will report the result of key informant survey of Puerto Rican academics with an interest in Puerto Rican elder natural support systems; the reader will have a better appreciation of the challenges and rewards confronting agencies wishing to involve Puerto Rican natural supports in their efforts to reach elders.

The support that minority individuals received from their natural support systems allows them to cope with an environment that includes racism, crime, poverty, and poor housing conditions. The importance of natural support systems thus may have implications for human service providers. The findings from a study that examined whether Puerto Rican individuals who receive more support from their natural support systems are less likely to experience stress and emotional, substance abuse, and family problems are presented.

This article will provide the reader with a perspective on how best to utilize natural support systems to reach Puerto Rican communities in the United States. The concept of natural support systems will serve as the cornerstone for the development of AOD projects involving this important resource in the community; in addition, a series of recommendations will be made to help institutions implement natural support system collaborative activities.

Planetary health: a new science for exceptional action

Natural support systems have a variety of functions in Hispanic communities. The authors examine four types of natural support systems, analyze the needs they serve in Hispanic communities, and discuss the implications of this analysis for direct services, planning, and social policy.

Fast and slow health crises of Homo urbanicus: loss of resilience in communicable diseases, like COVID-19, and non-communicable diseases

Rural development program in tribal region: A protocol for adaptation and addressing climate change vulnerability

Introduction: Planetary health (PH) has emerged as a leading field for raising awareness, debating, and finding solutions for the health impacts of human-caused disruptions to Earth's natural systems. PH education addresses essential questions of how humanity inhabits Earth, and how humans affect, and are affected by, natural systems. A pilot massive open online course (MOOC) in PH was created in Brazil in 2020. This MOOC capitalized on the global online pivot, to make the course accessible to a broader audience. This study describes the process of course creation and development and assesses the impact evaluation data and student outcomes of the PH MOOC.Methods: The PH MOOC pilot was launched in Brazilian Portuguese, using the TelessaúdeRS-UFRGS platform on 4/27/2020 and concluded on 7/19/2020 with a total load of 80 h. It was composed of 8 content modules, pre and post-test, 10 topics in a forum discussion, and an optional action plan. This study analyzes the course database, profile of participants, answers to questionnaires, forum interaction, and action plans submitted.Results: Two thousand seven hundred seventy-seven participants enrolled in the course, of which 1,237 (44.54%) gave informed consent for this study. Of the 1,237 participants who agreed to participate in the research, 614 (49.8%) completed the course, and 569 (92.67%) were accredited by TelessaúdeRS-UFRGS. The majority of the participants were concerned with climate change, trained in the health area, and worked in primary health care in places that lacked ongoing sustainability programs. Two hundred forty-one action plans were submitted, major topics identified were food and nutrition, infectious diseases, and garbage and recycling.Discussion: The use of the PH lens and open perspective of the course centered the need to communicate planetary health topics to individuals. The local plans reflected the motto of “think global and act local.” Brazil presents a context of an unprecedented social, political, and environmental crisis, with massive deforestation, extensive fires, and biomass burning altering the biomes, on top of an ongoing necropolitical infodemic and COVID-19 pandemic. In the face of these multiple challenges, this MOOC offers a timely resource for health professionals and communities, encouraging them to address planetary challenges as fundamental health determinants.

Tony Capon: the world's first professor of planetary health

ABSTRACT: Earth's ecosystems and biodiversity have been heavily impacted by anthropogenic activities, with land use change being the most important factor in terrestrial environments. One of the most important strategies for preserving biodiversity has been the establishment of protected areas. The reserve network of Chihuahua, Mexico's largest state, was first established in 1939 and currently includes 13 protected areas. The effectiveness of this conservation network to represent species, populations, and habitats has not been evaluated. We assess Chihuahuan protected areas with regard to the avifauna by evaluating ecological, geographical, and phylogenetic data. We compiled records from published literature, curatorial databases, reports, and recent field work to determine the species present in the reserves and to evaluate taxonomic distinctness. Index of taxonomic distinctness helps identify areas that have similar or identical species richness. We gathered data representing bird distributions, veget...

Humans are altering the composition of biological communities through a variety of activities that increase rates of species invasions and species extinctions, at all scales, from local to global. These changes in components of the Earth's biodiversity cause concern for ethical and aesthetic reasons, but they also have a strong potential to alter ecosystem properties and the goods and services they provide to humanity. Ecological experiments, observations, and theoretical developments show that ecosystem properties depend greatly on biodiversity in terms of the functional characteristics of organisms present in the ecosystem and the distribution and abundance of those organisms over space and time. Species effects act in concert with the effects of climate, resource availability, and disturbance regimes in influencing ecosystem properties. Human activities can modify all of the above factors; here we focus on modification of these biotic controls. The scientific community has come to a broad consensus on many aspects of the re- lationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, including many points relevant to management of ecosystems. Further progress will require integration of knowledge about biotic and abiotic controls on ecosystem properties, how ecological communities are struc- tured, and the forces driving species extinctions and invasions. To strengthen links to policy and management, we also need to integrate our ecological knowledge with understanding of the social and economic constraints of potential management practices. Understanding this complexity, while taking strong steps to minimize current losses of species, is necessary for responsible management of Earth's ecosystems and the diverse biota they contain.

A framework to guide planetary health education