In the United States, human health has traditionally been seen as being isolated from the ecological environment. In my medical training and subsequent emergency medical careers, issues such as climate change, habitat destruction, species extinction, pollution and depletion of freshwater supplies are considered major environmental issues outside the health care industry. Fairness is seen as a major political, economic and social issue. Sustainability is rarely considered.
I think it is necessary to change this view, not only doctors, but all Americans have a responsibility to achieve this change. Achieving health requires that we address all of these factors in a comprehensive and ecological way. Our goal should be "healthy people, living in a fair and sustainable society, and maintaining a balance with the natural world." Neglecting any of these factors can have far-reaching and unacceptable consequences.
Few people better anticipate these consequences than Dr. Paul Ehrlich, a biology professor at Stanford University, who is considered by many to be the father of American ecology. As the winner of the Crafoord Award, equivalent to his Nobel Prize for pioneering work in the field of ecology, Dr. Ehrlich delivered an extraordinary speech, which is actually an urgent requirement for ecological sanitation methods. I encourage you to click here to listen to the speeches made in 1970. I think you will be amazed at the modern and eye-catching nature of it nearly forty years later.
However, I believe that one of the best examples of implementing some of the elements of the ecosan approach actually indicates Dr. Ehrlich's speech for decades. As a dependent on the US military, I spent three years with my family in Japan in 1946, because my father participated in the Marshall Plan in Japan after the Second World War led by General Douglass MacArthur. Although most Americans have understood the Marshall Plan as a financial aid program, the way people don't understand it is system-based, comprehensive, and consists of three distinct components: democratization, decentralization, and demilitarization. . In order to implement the "three Ds", MacArthur took a thorough action and affected all aspects of Japanese society. For example, his attitude toward decentralization reflects an understanding that the wealth and power of industrial monopolies operated by large families play a crucial role in the origin of Japanese fascism. These monopolies controlled the Japanese economy and, among other things, cancelled unions. MacArthur disbanded these monopolies and settled their extremely concentrated wealth by collecting minimum wages, maximum wages, and realizing the wealth of the chaebol. He also brought universal health care services. The end result of these measures is that Japan has changed from a country with the largest gap between rich and poor and the world's worst health index [longevity, infant mortality, etc.] to today's Japan. Japan is now the country with the highest health index and the country with the smallest gap between rich and poor in industrialized countries.
Given the challenges we face as an American, let us consider what happened in the United States during the same period. Although our country ranks fifth in the world in terms of health index in 1950, and the gap between the rich and the poor is getting smaller and smaller, the middle class is also increasing, but these trends have been reversed. Today, our comparative health index is no better than the 21st, lower than all other developed countries, Costa Rica and Cuba. The gap between the rich and the poor in China is now the largest of all industrialized countries. During the same period, our health care spending surged. The United States currently spends more than half of the world's health care costs, the highest per capita in the world, and the world's population accounts for only 4% of the global population. In contrast, Japan has the lowest per capita health care expenditure in the industrialized countries of the world, while achieving the best health index.
Another very different society, an important aspect of adopting ecologically healthy health methods is the Bhutanese state, located in the Himalayas near Nepal. Although Bhutan recognizes very few visitors to protect its cultural heritage, in the past two winters, DeReimer Adventure Kayaking's Mary and Phil were allowed to lead the kayak team to explore the rivers of Bhutan. I recommend that you visit their website at http://www.adventurekayaking.com to learn more about their travel details.
From an ecological approach to a health perspective, the importance of their experience is that Bhutanese who are poor in accordance with US standards are physically and mentally healthy. In the words of Mary and Phil, "Bhutan's definition of happiness is not "own and acquire", but in their culture, wealth has nothing to do with happiness. On the contrary, they believe that desire and desire often bring pain. It is a potential behavioral stimuli, and the result is that their culture is open, caring, curious and acceptable. Their government pursues "Gross National Happiness" and promotes government participation in the implementation of model education, social and environmental planning happiness. Feeling. The desire to protect the national environment and cultural traditions."
Not far from the Kingdom of Bhutan and the concept of "Gross National Happiness" seems to be very esoteric for many Americans. Nonetheless, more than 400 respected American economists, including Nobel laureate Professor Herbert Simon, believe that we use the true progress index to measure our gross domestic product [the sum of all products and services]. The use is actually more realistic and useful, and it attempts to measure the quality of our lives. Comparing these measures since the 1970s is obvious. Although traditional GDP products more than doubled, the real progress index fell by 45% during this period. Measuring GPI warns us that, contrary to many opposite guarantees, the US economy is actually destroying our health during this period. Our prosperity is not only unevenly distributed, but also unsustainable and does not perform its most important functions. This function is to improve the health of our population.
Clearly, ecological, scientific health methods require us to define what health is, how to best measure health, and then promote healthy conditions. If we don't do these things, it stands to reason that we will not be healthy. We must realize that health is more than just no disease. Instead, it needs to do something to actively promote it. Trying to correct the effects of destroying it is not enough.
At Mother Lode, we have been committed to contributing to this work, a river-based experience, a letter, and an environmentally and socially responsible behavior. We hope that you can come up with your ideas and suggestions and explore the possibilities. Remember, entertainment is: "re-creation", a process of meaningful, constructive change that is an important part of integration and ecological health approaches.
See you on the river!
Orignal From: Mother Lod River Center urges ecological health methods
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