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. 

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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. 

Access to nature is an important health issue

Nature and outdoor recreation are important for public health. As a health promotion endeavor, physiotherapists should engage in public health work and policymaking to secure the public (and thereby patients) easy access to green and blue environments. This piece...

It’s raining needles – How can physiotherapists who practice acupuncture foster a healthier environment?

The plastic crisis has concerned us for decades as both landfilled and incinerated waste continue to pollute the environment and pose health risks to humans and wildlife. With packaging of all sorts being the main source of plastic pollution that is clogging the...

Are humans really at ‘the wheel of the world’*

During the brilliant August EPT Agenda 2023 participating institutions meeting organised by Filip and bringing five invited speakers together to talk about the integration of planetary health, environmental and sustainability perspectives into occupational therapy,...

An evidence-based guide for decarbonizing physiotherapy clinics

Climate change is the largest threat to human health and wellbeing globally (WHO, 2021). The healthcare industry itself currently contributes to fuelling the climate crisis with its emissions and material consumption (Karliner et al., 2020). There has been much...

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