Nature is Healthcare

Nature

17 Feb

INTRODUCTION

In this report, we will highlight the major role that Nature plays in our health, going beyond the mere aesthetic value to understanding the nourishing value of Nature. We will highlight that we cannot live healthy lives without healthy Nature and argue that, for healthy People and a healthy Planet, we must stop treating Nature as a service or commodity. Instead, we must live in mutualistic symbiosis with Nature -- in a relationship in which Humans and Nature are equally dependent on and mutually benefiting from each other.

“The word ‘nature’ has several meanings. It can refer to the essence, inner quality, and character of an object or phenomenon, the whole of material reality that is independent of Human activity and history, or the entirety of the Universe. In this report, Nature as Healthcare, we define Nature as the entirety of living and biological beings in our habitats and on our Planet; where the beings are those who have Life and those who support Life: Trees, Water, Air, People and non-Human Animals, Bacteria, Insects, Fungi, and Soil.”

Urban environments are disproportionately dead and unhealthy environments, often grey, and characterised by non-living materiality, such as concrete, plastic, glass, or asphalt. The industrious activity of urban environments also disproportionately exposes us to high levels of air pollution, noise pollution, heat, and light pollution -- stressors that take a toll on our health. All too often, due to capitalist pathways, urban environments leave little room for the equitable inclusion and distribution of Green Space (i.e. Vegetation/Biodiversity) and Blue Space (i.e. Water). This is in spite of Nature having much of the infrastructure and elements to support our physical, mental, and social health and well-being. Humans have evolved in Nature, and it is for a good reason that we say Mother Nature to describe that Nature is, indeed, the basis of Life. Yet, for many People living in the cities of today, Nature is not part of everyday Life.

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Nature is Healthcare

In this report, we will highlight the major role that Nature plays in our health. We highlight that we cannot live healthy lives without healthy Nature and argue that, for healthy People and a healthy Planet, we must stop treating Nature as a service or commodity.

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