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Trudeau Conference on Public Policy 2007 A Climate of Reconciliation: Economy, Social Justice and the Environment Summary – Thematic Session Health Presenters: Richard Jackson, University of California, Berkeley Colin L. Soskolne, University of Alberta 1. Dr. Richard Jackson, “The Built Environment and Human Health” After being neglected for many decades, the interrelationship between the design of our cities and buildings is once again being recognized as having a major impact on both human health and the environment. As Dr. Jackson has written, “we now realize that how we design the built environment may hold tremendous potential for addressing many of the nation’s greatest current public health concerns, including obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, asthma, injury, depression, violence, and social inequities.” Many American cities are characterized by huge freeways, traffic jams, sprawling singlefamily residences in distant suburbs lacking parks, playgrounds, community centres, and practical public transit options. The focus of urban design on cities that favor private vehicles has had broad health, environmental, and social repercussions. Americans (and to a similar degree Canadians) suffer from soaring rates of obesity because of insufficient physical exercise and diets including excessive sugars, fats, and calories. Obesity is linked to many of the most prevalent chronic diseases in North America, including heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Even in children, obesity rates and diabetes are surging, leading to predictions that by 2020, one in three American children will suffer from diabetes. If these dire trends continue, then life expectancy in the United States will begin to decline. Public policies contributed to these problems and can contribute to the solutions. Zoning laws that block high density and mixed use developments (live, work, play) need to be changed. Laws governing contaminated sites need to be made flexible to encourage redevelopment of brownfields after environmental remediation takes place. Policies need to favor cycling, walking and public transit over private vehicles. Inspiration can be found in some of the public health successes of the late 20th century, such as the dramatic reduction in rates of smoking and the elimination of lead in gasoline. Public policies were responsible for these changes, which have dramatically reduced rates of lung cancer and neuro-developmental damage in children, respectively. Analysis of the economic benefits of reduced lead levels in American children suggests values measured in hundreds of billions of dollars annually. Another area of improvement lies in the field of pesticides, where legislative changes prompted by scientific discoveries have reduced the health risks posed by many agricultural pesticides. Health and the Environment 1 Smart public policies can protect both human health and the environment, reducing deaths, illnesses, injuries, and ecological degradation and perhaps most importantly, improving human wellbeing. Promising solutions include more accessible parks and playgrounds, farmers markets, walking schoolbus programs, bicycle paths, and school gardens. Europe is well ahead of North America in implementing these policies. For additional information: Frumkin H, Frank L, Jackson RJ. 2004. Urban Sprawl and Public Health: Designing, Planning, and Building for Healthy Communities. Washington, DC: Island Press. Jackson RJ. 2003. "The Impact of the Built Environment on Health: An Emerging Field", American Journal of Public Health, 93(9):1382-1384. 2. Dr. Colin L. Soskolne, “Human Health on an Unhealthy Planet” The scope and scale of global environmental change, which encompasses not only climate change but other challenges like the decline in biodiversity and the attrition of ecosystem services, poses dire threats to human health. The magnitude of the problem is reflected by the increasing size of humanity’s ecological footprint, which now exceeds the productive and assimilative capacities of the Earth. The science of epidemiology traditionally focused on primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. In response to global change, epidemiology now incorporates primordial prevention, i.e. policy interventions that occur to ensure that environmental hazards are not created. Maintaining ecological integrity depends on our ability to achieve population control, reduce consumption of natural resources, and implement green technologies. Yet in many cases the trends in these three areas are not encouraging (continued population growth, increasing resource exploitation and pollution, inappropriate technologies). Human health effects linked to global change include rising levels of skin cancer (linked to depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer), the redistribution of malaria, and malnutrition associated with climate change. There is also a critical ethical element of global environmental change, in that industrialized nations are responsible for the lion’s share of resource consumption and pollution yet it is often the developing countries that bear a disproportionate share of the adverse effects. Key question: how long can human health be sustained while we continue to draw down ecological capital and erode ecological integrity? Hope and opportunity can be found in the Earth Charter and in new constitutional provisions that recognize all people have the right to live in a healthy and ecologically balanced environment. The Earth Charter is a soft law instrument (meaning it lacks legal force), but offers a powerful prescription for reconciling human needs and the Health and the Environment 2 inescapable ecological constraints imposed by the planet. It is biocentric, prioritizes the importance of ecological integrity, is rooted in precaution, and recognizes the rights of both present and future generations. The South African Bill of Rights, part of the constitutional reforms enacted in 1996, explicitly recognizes that “everyone has the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or wellbeing.” Like the Earth Charter, South Africa’s Bill of Rights also recognizes the importance of ecological integrity, prevention, and the rights of future generations. For additional information: Colin L. Soskolne et al, eds. 2007. Sustaining Life on Earth: Environmental and Human Health through Global Governance. Lexington Books. See also www.ecohealth.net and L. Gostin. 2007. Meeting Basic Survival Needs of the World’s Least Healthy People: Toward a Framework Convention Session chair and summary: David R. Boyd, University of British Colombia, Trudeau Scholar Health and the Environment 3