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. 

What are ecosystem services and what do they mean for physiotherapy?

The environment has long been recognised as a determinant of health (Dahlgren & Whitehead, 2021). While determinants of health may be protective, health promoting or risk factors (Dahlgren & Whitehead, 2021), the narrative regarding the relationship between the...

Revealing the ecological consequences of research and education: Exploring carbon footprint and management strategies

In the recent years as awareness of climate change and environmental degradation has heightened, so too has the scrutiny on human activities and their ecological footprints. Research and education are not exempt from their own environmental impacts. Laboratories hum...

Intersections of Health, Social, and Environmental Justice: A Canadian Perspective

At the first-ever Environmental Physiotherapy Festival 2023, Erin Keough, Susan Czyzo and I came together to host a talk and discussion on the intersections of different justice areas, the environment, and healthcare, all while centering a Canadian perspective. We...

Outdoor environments for health and wellbeing

Unicare Bakke is a rehabilitation centre that is beautifully located on the countryside, south of Halden in Norway. I started working there as a physiotherapist in 2000 and over the years I recognized that we didn´t use the beautiful outdoors and surroundings as much...

If you have any thoughts, ideas or questions about environmental physiotherapy,
we would love to hear from you anytime

10 + 11 =