Planetary salutogenesis: reimagining health in the age of the anthropocene

For centuries, Western medical practice has focused on what makes us sick. Yet as the Earth’s systems fray under the cumulative stress of industrial modernization, a more radical proposition is emerging: what if the key to health lies not merely in avoiding illness, but in understanding and supporting the conditions that make well-being possible in the first place?

Today I and five coauthors published a piece in Noema proposing just this. Introducing the concept of “planetary salutogenesis,” the essay builds on a sociological theory from the 1970s and extends it to the planetary scale. In the process, it calls for a dramatic revision in how humanity conceives of health — one commensurate to the geophysical drama of our time.

Nils Gilman

Read full blog by Nils Gilman in Small Precautions