Advancing an environmentally responsible physiotherapy

 

The world faces complex and interrelated crises… Climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, rapid urbanization, geopolitical conflict and militarization, demographic change, population displacement, poverty, and widespread inequity create risks of future crises even more severe than those experienced today. Responses require investments that integrate planetary, societal, community and individual health and well-being (WHO 2021 Geneva Charter for Wellbeing)

 

 The impact of human activities on our planet’s natural systems has been intensifying rapidly in the past several decades, leading to disruption and transformation of most natural systems. These disruptions in the atmosphere, oceans, and across the terrestrial land surface are not only driving species to extinction, they pose serious threats to human health and wellbeing. Characterising and addressing these threats requires a paradigm shift (Myers, 2017)

Action at the level of direct drivers of nature decline, although necessary, is not sufficient … a sustainable global future’ is ‘only possible with urgent transformative change that tackles the root causes: the interconnected economic, socio-cultural, demographic, political, institutional, and technological indirect drivers behind the direct drivers (Diaz et al., 2019)

About

An international community of academics, clinicians, practitioners and students interested in exploring and advancing the field of environmental physiotherapy. 

Blog

Follow our latest musings on environmental physiotherapy. Ideas, inspiration, news, publications, events, and more. 

Join

Become part of the first international community of physiotherapists with an interest in researching, developing, and practising physiotherapy at a planetary scale. 

Resources

A growing selection of resources carefully selected by members of the EPA to inspire your thinking and practice of environmental physiotherapy. 

Environmental Physiotherapy at the WCPT Congress 2021

The Environmental Physiotherapy Association was formed only a week ago and we could not have asked for a better start. The quickly growing membership is clearly showing that there is a huge amount of interest and enthusiasm in the field of environmental physiotherapy...

Physiotherapy and the Sustainable Development Goals – A students perspective

Now more than ever it feels necessary to, at a very minimum, encourage deliberation on the importance of adopting more sustainable practices in physiotherapy. Major fields such as engineering and fashion have already begun the process of teaching students about...

Access to clean and healthy environments is now a universal human right

The United Nations (UN) declared access to clean and healthy environments a universal human right in July 2022. This historic decision was voted in favour by 161 countries. But what exactly does this mean? And how does this apply to health care and rehabilitation?...

Unless someone like… me! – A personal reflection on this World Environment Day 2020

It was around this time of year, 20 years ago, that I sold my last car. Ingrid and I were heading to London to live and so the sale was necessary. But the fact that we have not bought a car since, to many, is remarkable – so this reflection is a celebration of that.I...

If you have any thoughts, ideas or questions about environmental physiotherapy,
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