On Planetary Health

I am secretly 'rooting for' the School of Planetary Health at Nagasaki University. Or rather, I am paying close attention to their future activities.

That is what they say, but I believe the significance lies in the fact that a university-wide organization has been formed that transcends academic disciplines (faculties).

According to Nagasaki University's explanation of planetary health,

to realize 'planetary health,' Nagasaki University must always continue to explore new and effective 'answers' necessary to build a better future,

and they are advocating for 'a step beyond the SDGs.'

SDGs stands for Sustainable Development Goals, and while they set specific goals for current problems and are shared globally, one could also view the SDGs as symptomatic treatment that does not lead to fundamental solutions.

In contrast, planetary health seems to be attempting to re-recognize the nature of problems by comprehensively revising our current understanding from development goals that lean toward economics, and by broadening our perspective to include the 'health of the Earth.' Based on that, it seems they are searching for new and effective measures.

I like the perspective that 'the health of the Earth is also important.'

On the other hand, I feel uncomfortable with the idea of viewing the Earth as an environment. This is because humanity is merely a part of the Earth. Just as we don't call our bodies 'body environments' because we see our bodies as part of ourselves, from the standpoint that we have a give-and-take relationship with the Earth, the term 'global environment' feels like a somewhat arrogant word that places 'humanity' above it.

I think the term 'global environment' is a conceptual one born from the view that the global environment exists outside of humanity, and that the Earth is not an internal issue for humanity. I believe it is a term rooted in a binary opposition that treats humanity as humanity and the Earth as the Earth.

I believe that if the 'health of the Earth' is impaired, it will affect human health, and I consider hay fever to be a typical example of this. In that sense, I look forward to various initiatives in planetary health emerging, and to new leads being found for the various issues and problems that the SDGs have not fully anticipated.

Furthermore, Japanese people originally held a 'view of the Earth' that is kind to both humans and the Earth, such as the 'inseparable relationship between nature and humans' seen in the concept of the eight million gods (Yaoyorozu no Kami). Given that, I also believe that Japanese people can play a leading role in planetary health.