The Future of FoodThe Future of Food is an undergraduate introductory-level science course that emphasizes the challenges facing food systems in the 21st century, including issues of sustainability, resilience, and adaptive capacity, and the challenges posed by food insecurity and modern diets to human health and well-being.
→ Teaching toolPlanetary Health Workshop This workshop created by the Planetary Health Alliance introduces participants to Planetary health and encourages them to brainstorm about possible solutions to urgent global challenges. Participants dive into the implications of environmental changes for one of three selected health impacts -- nutrition, infectious disease, and mental health.
→ Workshop folderUrban Health Disparities SyllabusThis Howard University course provides students with a foundation for understanding how history, power, privilege and structural inequality interact to produce urban health disparities. It looks at the advantages and disadvantages of urbanization on both physical and mental health and the root causes of racial and ethnic disparities in health and healthcare.
→ SyllabusClimate Change and Health(L2, L3) Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health podcast shares an in-depth conversation about the effects of climate change and the steps we can take to reduce the damage.
→ The podcast→ Teaching toolHealth Impact Assessment of Global Environmental Change
This undergraduate level course will provide students with tools to identify and address real-world global environmental and urban health issues. In addition to reading and discussing subject content to assist in understanding of the issues, students will learn skills to optimize the likelihood of affecting policy change through: 1) the Health Impact Assessment framework; 2) an introduction to environmental health modeling and spatial analysis; and 3) science communication skills. University of Wisconsin-Madison, Spring 2017.
→ Syllabus→ Weekly Course Topics and ScheduleEcosystem Approaches to Health Teaching ManualA teaching manual with sample modules and associated activities for teaching about health and environmental change produced by COPEH-Canada.
→ Español → Français → English → Read moreClimate Information for Public Health Action With a focus on infectious disease, hydro-meteorological disasters and nutrition, the book explores why, when and how data on the historical, current and future (from days to decades) climate can be incorporated into health decision-making.
→ E-BookHow I Fell in Love With a Fish(L1, L2, L3) This TedTalk tells a love story for a fish that originated in Argentina on a farm that was created by flooding and restoring a natural ecosystem. As overfishing and current aquaculture practices are highly unsustainable, a proposal to use natural relationships in an ecological model to produce more sustainable fish for food is presented.
→ Watch the videoDrought and War Heighten Threat of Not Just 1 Famine, but 4(L2, L3, L4) In Somalia and other African countries suffering from drought and famines, lack of clean water and proper hygiene are behind massive outbreaks of communicable diseases in displaced-persons camps.
→ Read moreGlobal Food Politics and PolicyThis Harvard Kennedy School course reviews the political landscape of food and farming, in both rich and poor countries. The course delves into nutrition circumstances that differ as well, as persistent hunger is still a deadly challenge in many tropical countries, while in rich countries, particularly the United States, excessive food consumption and obesity are now a more prominent diet- linked challenge to health.
→ SyllabusWhy Agricultural Diversity Matters to Public Health: The Marsden Farm Study(L2, L3, L4) This article reports on a 2012 study by Iowa State University that suggests better integration of animal and plant systems can dramatically decrease health issues caused by industry-scale agriculture, mainly groundwater pollution from fertilizers, herbicides, and manure.
→ Read moreMalnutrition and Fish Catch Decline(L1, L2, L3, L4) This NPR article reports on commentary in Nature from Dr. Chris Golden and co-authors about the risk of micronutrient deficiencies in regions dependent on fish for food. Nutrients from fish cannot easily be replaced in diets, and fish catch rates globally are declining.
→ Read moreUrban Farming: Fixing the Broken Food System & Improving Health(L2, L4) This TedX talk explores how the current food system produces many negative environmental and health issues. Paul Myers speaks about his health research and startup, Farm Urban, that promotes the use of aquaponics and hydroponics food production systems to inspire people to connect with the environment and make more informed choices.
→ Watch the videoBiodiversity and Health
(L1, L3, L4) This brief report explores the link between biodiversity and human health in medicinal contributions, food security, infectious diseases, green spaces and urban biodiversity, uncertainties and complexities, and policy implications.→ Teaching tool