Whole Health & Sustainability

Sustainability directly affects human health as the environment impacts disease and the general wellbeing of society. Environmental pollutants affect air, water, and soil quality and can be linked to an increase in cancers, heart disease and respiratory conditions such as asthma. Climate change disproportionally affects marginalized communities and lower income individuals that are more likely living in urban areas. The most at risk groups are children, pregnant women, and the elderly. It is estimated that worldwide 12 million deaths can be attributed to environmental factors (Prüss-Ustün et al. 2016) It is important for the future of health care to understand these health risks and properly incorporate sustainability to address them.  

Whole Health is a healthcare system that aims to support the mind, body, and the community by treating health and well-being holistically. Whole health puts the priority on the patient and what they value, need, and their main goals when approaching health. This extends from the person and connects self-care, professional care, and community needs. To address the harmful outcomes of sustainability, whole health can be utilized to uplift the patient and identify external factors that can be improved.

Climate change is a long term shift in temperatures and weather patterns recently caused by greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases occur when fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) are burned. These gases go into the atmosphere and trap heat leading to a large scale warming of the earth's climate. Carbon dioxide and methane are the two most occurring greenhouses gases affecting our climate. With a projected increase of global temperatures of 1.5 °C by 2050, it is important to act now. Climate change occurs in a multitude of ways and may affect areas differently. Consequences of climate change include droughts, water scarcity, food insecurity, severe fires, rising sea levels, flooding, melting polar ice, health crises, catastrophic storms, and declining biodiversity. (United Nations, n.d)