Many scientists and public health practitioners recognize that environmental conditions have a dramatic effect on health, but the general public has only recently come to understand that this causal relationship affects their day-to-day lives. IFTF research revelas that we are now learning to link our personal health not only to our immediate environments but also to the larger ecologies in which we live. We are beginning to relate the sustainability of the planet to the sustainability of our health as never before. At IFTF, we call this movement Green Health.
Green Health is emerging from the convergence of the global health economy and this growing public recognition of the imperative for global sustainability. It involves intense experimentation on the part of everyone involved—citizens, consumers, the government, and businesses—both within and outside of the health economy. Responses, actions, and products under the Green Health paradigm are proliferating and evolving, from new hospital building materials to re-branded alternative health practices, including new diets and lifestyles.
In this report, IFTF's Health Horizons Program provides both the historical context and a senseof the coming trajectory of Green Health. We present our forecasts over the next ten years by viewing them through six lenses:
Causality—the systems of explanation surrounding of illness, infirmity, health, and well-being
Interventions—the practices and polices at different scales for affecting changes in health
Bodies—the interconnected physical, emotional, and spiritual self
Risk—perceived or experienced dangers or susceptibilities
Health—a state of complete mental, physical and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity
Place and Space—the contexts and settings where we live work and play
The Greening of Health: The Convergence of Health and Sustainability examines these six defining points-of-view and the driving forces shaping the effects of Green Health on the future of health and healthcare.
