Main description:

Adding to a growing body of knowledge about how the social-ecological dynamics of the Anthropocene affect human health, this collection presents strategies that both address core challenges, including climate change, stagnating economic growth, and rising socio-political instability, and offers novel frameworks for living well on a finite planet.

Rather than directing readers to more sustainable ways to structure health systems, Health in the Anthropocene navigates the transition toward social-ecological systems that can support long-term human and environmental health, which requires broad shifts in thought and action, not only in formal health-related fields, but in our economic models, agriculture and food systems, ontologies, and ethics.

Arguing that population health will largely be decided at the intersection of experimental social innovations and appropriate technologies, this volume calls readers to turn their attention toward social movements, practices, and ways of living that build resilience for an era of systemic change. Drawing on diverse disciplines and methodologies from fields including anthropology, ecological economics, sociology, and public health, Health in the Anthropocene maps out alternative pathways that have the potential to sustain human wellbeing and ecological integrity over the long term.

Contents:

Acknowledgements

Introduction to Health in the Anthropocene: Living Well on a Finite Planet
Katharine Zywert, University of Waterloo and Stephen Quilley, University of Waterloo

Part 1, Population Health in the Anthropocene: Addressing Wicked Problems in the Transition to an Alternative Social-Ecological System Guided by Ecological Constraints

Introduction
Katharine Zywert, University of Waterloo and Stephen Quilley, University of Waterloo

Individual or Community as a Frame of Reference for Health in Modernity and in the Anthropocene
Stephen Quilley, University of Waterloo

"Regional Overload" as an Indicator of Profound Risk: A Plea for the Public Health Community to Awaken
Colin Butler, University of Canberra

Medicine and Healthcare in the Anthropocene: Who Pays and Why?
Jennifer Cole, University of London

Anthropocene Health Economics: Preparing for the Journey or the Destination?
Martin Hensher, University of Tasmania

What About My Pineapples?: The Wicked Implications of Nonlinearity, Embedded Systems, and Transformative Social Goals
Kaitlin Kish, McGill University

Imagining Health Systems 150 years from Now: Best and Worst-case Scenarios for the Future of Human Health
Katharine Zywert, University of Waterloo

A Changing Role for Public Health in the Anthropocene: The Contribution of Scenario Thinking for Reimagining the Future
Blake Poland, University of Toronto, Margot Parkes, University of British Columbia, Trevor Hancock, University of Victoria, George McKibbon, University of Guelph, Andrea Chircop, Dalhousie University

Part 2, Emerging social innovations for health and wellbeing: Prefiguring viable health systems for the Anthropocene

Introduction
Katharine Zywert, University of Waterloo and Stephen Quilley, University of Waterloo

The Role of Grassroots Social Movements as Agents of Change for Societal Transformation: The Example of the Transition Movement
Blake Poland, University of TorontO, and the Transition Emerging Study Research Team (Chris Buse, Randy Haluza-Delay, Chris Ling, Lenore Newman, Andrei-Anne Parent, Cheryl Teelucksingh, Rebecca Hasdell, K Hayes)

"Food as Thy Medicine:" How Ecovillages Foster Population and Planetary Health through Regenerative Food Systems
Lisa Mychajluk, University of Toronto - OISE

Care Farming: Making a Meaningful Connection between Agriculture, Health Care and Society
Marjolein Elings, Wageningen University & Research

Grieving Nature - Grieving in Nature: The Place of Parks and Natural Places in Palliative and Grief Care
Sonya L. Jakubec, Mount Royal University, Dan Carruthers Den Hoed, Mount Royal University, Heather Ray, Mount Royal University, Ashok Krishnamurthy, Mount Royal University

Nature as Partner: Rethinking Intersectoral Action for Health in the Anthropocene Era, Mary Jane Yates, University of Alberta

The Soil Sponge: Collaborating with the Work of Other Species to Improve Public Health, Climate Change, and Resilience
Didi Pershouse

Making Medicine Work in the Anthropocene: Tenets of a Meta-medicine for Complex Adaptive Systems in Precarious Times
Katharine Zywert, University of Waterloo and William Sutherland, University of Waterloo

Part 3, Alternative ontologies: Laying the groundwork for living well within the earth's biophysical limits

Introduction,
Katharine Zywert, University of Waterloo and Stephen Quilley, University of Waterloo

Our Affluence Is Killing Us: What Degrowth Offers Health and Wellbeing
Jean-Louis Aillon, Frantz Fanon Center

Nurturing Ecological Consciousness
Mark Hathaway, University of Waterloo, Donald Cole, University of Toronto, and Blake Poland, University of Toronto

Bodies of the Anthropocene: Health, Ontology, Ecology
Alexander Foster, King's College London

The Exploration of Socio-Ecological Approaches and Indicators in the Anthropocene
Ann Del Bianco, York University, David Mallery, York University, Kamal Paudel, York University, Martin J. Bunch, York University

Coming Back to Our True Nature: What is the inner work that supports Transition?
Blake Poland, University of Toronto

Death Denial in the Anthropocene
Sheldon Solomon, Skidmore College

To Become Ancestors of a Living Future
Barbara Jane Davy, University of Waterloo

Conclusion, Pursuing Health in the Anthropocene: A Synthesis of Current and Future Research Priorities
Katharine Zywert, University of Waterloo and Stephen Quilley, University of Waterloo

List of Contributors