A team co-led by a Washington State University scientist offers an alternative way to understand and minimize health impacts from human-caused changes to the climate and environment in a new study published in the journal One Earth.
Based at WSU Vancouver, lead author Deepti Singh, assistant professor in the School of the Environment, drew on hundreds of studies of climate change, air quality, agriculture, and public health to propose a “systems lens,” or scientific approach, that connects health risks with simultaneous environmental changes driven by human practices.
“We’re offering a framework to assess the overall health impacts from multiple parts of Earth’s natural systems, which are all changing simultaneously because of human activities,” Singh said. “The research could help identify policies and solutions that will have multiple co-benefits for the environment and human health.”