Earlier this month, on World Health Day, I wrote about how we are all in this together, with a focus on the social determinants of health, including the social and environmental factors which affect our health. What I overlooked, however, were the environmental determinants of health – a conversation which is pretty timely, considering that today is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. And also considering that Europe is currently sitting under an ash cloud, which may or may not have health implications.
Rather than rant about the negative environmental effects of our post-industrial age, such as air pollution lowering the IQs of our children, toxins leaking out of plastic bottles, and the generally sedentary lifestyle that many of us lead (fascinating New York Times read here: Weighing the Evidence on Exercise), I thought I’d spend a little time imagining what the world could look like if we re-designed our communities to support true health and well-being.
Fortunately, I didn’t have to be tremendously creative, because there is a growing movement to build sustainable communities called “Eco-Villages”. The Global Ecovillage Network defines a sustainable community along 3 dimensions: Social/Community, Ecological and Culture/Spirituality. One of the first documented eco-villages, the Eco-Village at Ithaca in Upstate New York, defines their community as “part of a growing global movement for a saner, more sustainable human culture…developing an alternative model for suburban living which provides a satisfying, healthy, socially rich lifestyle, while minimizing ecological impacts.”
Let me be philosophical for a moment: if the current trend toward urbanization is relatively new in the history of humankind, and if the way we have constructed modern cities has been primarily to accommodate trade and manufacturing…if urban planning has existed for less than a century and if we, as citizens, have had little to no input into how this planning has occurred…how could we possibly expect that our current urban architecture is designed appropriately for living and thriving? Is it time for a re-think? What movements and trends occurring at the edge of society today will shape the way we live in the next century?