That link between health and sustainability

We have  seen these last few months how important our health is
And we have all tried to use this lockdown to do better choices for our 'health', perhaps we made sure to stay active or tried to look after our mental health, perhaps found a new love for cooking...
But do we realise that health goes hand in hand with sustainability? 

The link between the two is far from a 'new' thing, it has been an object of workshops and policy summits, for example the one reported here  from the Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine in Washington in 2013. 
Unfortunately, despite the link being obvious (and I will expand on some clear examples later), public health and sustainable environment organizations insufficiently collaborate to put health and environment on the political agenda, and maybe we should take more responsibility for the values they we really consider of importance, and the actual translation of these into our daily lives and economy (and people like you and me have a great power, by demanding action, being actively interested in politics and voting right). Perhaps, this pandemic that we are living is giving a push in the right direction. Yes, because I mentioned already that the outbreak has some intrinsic links with environmental disruption, and there is a call for pandemic risks to be included in sustainable development goals (remember when i discussed these ?).


So, let’s have a look at some aspects to make our lives healthy and see the tie with sustainability

1. clean air. Breathing is the backbone of life. Simply put no breath, no life. Our lungs play a big role in the exchanges of gases, but when we breathe in less that clean air we are at risks of clogging them, overloading them and giving them extra work. We are designed so amazingly that we can deal with some level of impurities for small periods of time (yes, nature is great!) - but chronic exposure is not so good. While not all air pollution is the same and classifying it all under the same umbrella may be limiting, there is evidence for increase risk of chronic illnesses in highly polluted areas.  And even the current pandemic was exacerbated in the most polluted areas.  These three NYtimes articles (1, 2, 3) are a must read that also highlight some of the disparities between neighbourhoods (and you may guess, the poorest ones are also the ones most at risk) . This said, it is also worth to mention that most pollution is totally avoidable or at least it can be lowered by changes to lives towards sustainability. Think about the main polluting sources: energy production via fossil fuels, traffic, chemical industries, rubbish incinerators. Well, they all have to do with our current ways of living. A more sustainable approach based on more durable items that limit the need for constant consumption, better modes of transport, energy efficiency and recycling can mean a better environment not just for the ‘tree huggers’ out there but for all of us.
2. ‘You are what you eat’, ever heard of that phrase ? Food is such an important aspect of our lives, from simple sustenance to the social aspects of it. Just open your Instagram feed to see what I mean, and I don’t even follow many foodies... most of us put a lot of emphasis on the caloric aspects of food, and are constantly on a diet of some sort - but the health of food is not whether is a fat a protein or a carb. Much more than that. Food that are apparently healthy can actually be full of chemicals like pesticides or full of antibiotics and other ‘man made’ things that make productions more profitable but are less than healthy. Well, the argument is that intensive food culture are also less than great for the environment. Pesticides are damaging biodiversity, bees are being lost and with them we are losing the important service of pollination - no pollination can be a damage for natural plant communities but also for agriculture itself. Intensive field culturing is lowering the soil capacity of storing carbon which means that climate change is going to be even faster. Intensive animal culturing is terrible for animal wellbeing, also influence the spread of diseases and with fish aquaculture it can have repercussions on the surrounding areas...
3. plastic. It’s in everything we buy these days. And also everything that we buy related to food and drinks: Bottled water, milk, fruit and veg packaging, microwaveable ready to eat meals... plastic is actually toxic and can release some of its toxic components into the food and drinks around. There are some plastics marked as ‘safe’ but, in my opinion, is simply a marketing strategy as they say it is without one of the components (bpa) but say nothing about the rest. Now, most of these pollutants present in plastic are fat soluble, so perhaps the one surrounding your tomatoes will likely leak less into the food that the one surrounding your jug of  full fat milk or yogurt. These pollutants also tend to bioaccumulate, so the more you take in the worse it is. But plastic also persists a long time in the environment with some terrible effects. From entaglememt to chemically affecting animals. Check this previous post of plastic in the marine environment. So you wonder, why is there still so much plastic around? My answer onnthis is that the plastic lobby has a lot of power. But plastic is a big topic that I feel many are starting to refuse, so it may be a battle that we can win. 

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Yet politicians are not doing us any favour - and despite citizen worries and protests, in Venice they just went ahead approving an incinerator (on the mainland) and last week an accident in one of the chemical industries in the area ended up in a big fire with black smoke that ended up polluting  the local waters killing many fish but potentially ending in the soil and in the food.  Plastic also is an object of discussion in politics but, while Italy claimed it was going to put a plastic tax - it slowly slipped away unnoticed from the plans. So the fight is far from over, but if fighting for nature is not enough then let’s fight for our own health.