THE ESSENCE OF SUSTAINABLE HEALTH IS
EMBEDDED IN THE MEANING OF CIVILIZATION
One day a student asked anthropologist Margaret Meade for the earliest sign of civilization in any given human culture. He expected the answer to be a clay pot, or perhaps a fish hook or a grinding stone. Her answer surprised him. She said she believed the earliest sign of civilization was “a healed femur”. The femur is, of course, the thigh bone. In a society based on hunting and gathering, a person with a fractured thigh bone would be unable to care for themselves and useless. Meade explained that no healed femurs are found where the law of the jungle, the survival of the fittest, reigns. Someone with a broken femur would simply be allowed to die. But a healed femur showed that someone cared. Someone had to hunt and gather food for the injured person until his leg healed. Someone had to provide care for the person who couldn’t care for himself. She said: “the evidence of compassion was the first sign of true civilization.”
On November 4th, 2021, from 8 AM-10 AM PST, Dr. Stephanie Mines, along with team members from Humanity Rising, will broadcast the regenerative commentary of Walking the Land Africa youth, Dr. Vandana Shiva, Dr. Shamini Jain, Woman Stands Rising (Pat McCabe), Dr. Clare Willocks, and Dr. Ousmane Aly Pame. Listen up world! Sustainable healthcare, preparedness and resources for the health impacts of climate crisis and related pandemics, are the birthright of all people. Marginalized and vulnerable populations, including mothers, babies and neurodiverse children and youth, must be prioritized going forward. The broken healthcare system can be repaired if there is a groundswell urging it to do so. Details and RSVP here.
JOIN US in hearing the wisdom streams of Elders and Indigenous Leaders speaking for their communities and for their people—all people. You do not want to miss this FREE event!
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Code Red for Health Justice identifies the responsibility of healthcare providers and systems to protect vulnerable populations from the adverse impacts of climate crisis. These impacts run the entire spectrum of human health needs. Vulnerable populations are disproportionately impacted by climate change, including low-income communities and communities of color, as well as older people, children, and those with underlying health conditions. The World Health Organization estimates that 80% of the health effects of climate change impact children under five years of age.
It is absolutely essential and urgent that healthcare providers everywhere wake up to how we can unify, collaborate and take action to educate and empower individuals at the community level to address the already evident consequences of climate crisis, and prepare for the acceleration of these conditions, including reduced access to institutionalized medicine.
Given the holistic impacts of climate crisis it is the duty of healthcare providers to immediately foster, organize and implement strategic methods to deliver healthcare education and resources at the grassroots level. These resources must be culturally sensitive, self-care oriented, translated into multiple languages, and easily accessible. This action is of the highest priority. Planning to develop and implement such outreach and compassionate care must begin immediately.
Special considerations for neurodiverse children, youth and adults are necessary as part of an overall design for community empowered healthcare and education. Specific protocols for the major areas of impact such as mental health, respiratory conditions, extreme heat, increased allergens, water quality impacts, forced migration and environmental degradation are basic and must be available in language understandable to the average person.
© 2021, Stephanie Mines. All rights reserved.