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1 - Our Changing Planet

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2021

Andy Haines  and
Howard Frumkin
Andy Haines
Affiliation:
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Howard Frumkin
Affiliation:
University of Washington
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Summary

The story has to begin during the long (in human but not geological terms) period of the last nearly 12,000 years forming the Holocene Epoch, when humanity emerged from hunter-gatherer to agrarian communities and later into growing urban settlements founded on trade, and increasingly manufacturing. The Holocene was notable for its relative climatic stability, which allowed civilization as we know it to emerge. It was interrupted only by little ice ages – significant on human scale but minimally so on a geological scale. Much can be learned from the impacts of relatively modest fluctuations in climate on human society over this period (3). These lessons help us assess the likely effects of rapid climate and other changes on health and development in the future (see Chapter 2).

Type
Chapter
Information
Planetary Health
Safeguarding Human Health and the Environment in the Anthropocene
 , pp. 1 - 33
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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  • Our Changing Planet
  • Andy Haines, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Howard Frumkin, University of Washington
  • Book: Planetary Health
  • Online publication: 01 July 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108698054.001
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  • Our Changing Planet
  • Andy Haines, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Howard Frumkin, University of Washington
  • Book: Planetary Health
  • Online publication: 01 July 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108698054.001
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  • Our Changing Planet
  • Andy Haines, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Howard Frumkin, University of Washington
  • Book: Planetary Health
  • Online publication: 01 July 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108698054.001
Available formats
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