Many lenses for planetary health: seeding citizen engagement for sustainable futures visioning with new ways of seeing

Tribally led planetary health education in southeast Alaska

Limited reporting of Indigenous-led planetary health education programmes has constrained efforts to expand planetary health education, in Indigenous communities and beyond, despite urgent need. Although incorporation of Indigenous knowledge and cultures cannot be standardised, showcasing successful programmes could reveal good practices and aid replicability. In this Personal View, we highlight how shellfish toxin education programmes, designed and organised by the Sitka Tribe of Alaska, reduce local environmental health risks and support youth in pathways towards careers in planetary health. We describe how programmes build awareness and understanding of the local environment, environmental and health risks, and context-appropriate adaptation strategies by centring Tlingit culture and using hands-on activities that integrate Tlingit culture with western science. Lesson plans and resources created by Sitka Tribe of Alaska staff for these programmes are available in the US National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences Partnerships for Environmental Public Health resources web database.

Relationships are everything: The underpinnings of grassroots community action in the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto

Most government emergency/pandemic response plans feature top-down decision making and communication strategies and a focus on 'hard' (physical) infrastructure. There is nothing about the importance of the ideas and communications originating from communities, the social infrastructure that supports their impact locally and their contribution to the central administration. In this study, we found that the 'soft' (social) infrastructure within communities and between communities and formal institutions is key to an inclusive and more equitable response to large-scale crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. Grassroots leaders in six Toronto neighbourhoods were interviewed between the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto about what helped or hindered community action. Three themes emerged: (1) Grassroots leaders and community organizations were able to act as key connection points in a two-way flow of information and resources with residents and service providers; (2) Grassroots leaders and groups were challenged to engage in this work in a sustained capacity without adequate resourcing; and (3) there was a disconnect between community-centred grassroots approaches and the City's emergency response. We conclude that there needs to be pre-disaster investment in community level planning and preparation that fosters two-way connections between all municipal emergency/disaster and pandemic preparedness plans and community-centred organizations and grassroots leaders working in marginalized communities.

Towards an educational praxis for planetary health: a call for transformative, inclusive, and integrative approaches for learning and relearning in the Anthropocene

Fuelled by the intersecting challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and profound social, economic, and environmental injustices, calls for new ways to work together for a healthy, just, and sustainable future are burgeoning. Consequently, there is a growing imperative and mandate across the higher education space for transformative, inclusive, integrative-and sometimes disruptive-approaches to learning that strengthen our capacity to work towards the goals and imperatives of planetary health. This educational transformation requires attention to pathways of societal, policy, and system change, prioritising different voices and perspectives across jurisdictions, cultures, and learning contexts. This Viewpoint seeks to explore the developing areas of education for planetary health, while additionally reflecting on a praxis for education in the Anthropocene that is rooted within the confluence of diverse knowledges and practice legacies that have paved the way to learning and relearning for planetary health.

Transformative learning for a sustainable and healthy future through ecosystem approaches to health: insights from 15 years of co-designed ecohealth teaching and learning experiences

This paper presents insights from the work of the Canadian Community of Practice in Ecosystem Approaches to Health (CoPEH-Canada) and 15 years (2008-2022) of land-based, transdisciplinary, learner-centred, transformative learning and training. We have oriented our learning approaches to Head, Hands, and Heart, which symbolise cognitive, psychomotor, and affective learning, respectively. Psychomotor and affective learning are necessary to grapple with and enact far-reaching structural changes (eg, decolonisation) needed to rekindle healthier, reciprocal relationships with nature and each other. We acknowledge that these approaches have been long understood by Indigenous colleagues and communities. We have developed a suite of teaching techniques and resources through an iterative and evolving pedagogy based on participatory approaches and operating reciprocal, research-pedagogical cycles; integrated different approaches and ways of knowing into our pedagogy; and built a networked Community of Practice for continued learning. Planetary health has become a dominant framing for health-ecosystem interactions. This Viewpoint underscores the depth of existing scholarship, collaboration, and pedagogical expertise in ecohealth teaching and learning that can inform planetary health education approaches.

Stop ringing the alarm; it is time to get out of the building!

The volume of calls for governments and public health officials to take concerted action on climate change has become almost deafening. Public health researchers and practitioners need to look beyond what we know about the health impacts of climate change, to what we are doing as our part in contributing to holding global temperature rise to under 1.5°C. This commentary reflects on the common threads across the articles of a special section in this issue of the Canadian Journal of Public Health, "Moving on IPCC 1.5°C", which sought examples of bold research and action advancing climate change mitigation and adaptation. Among the articles, there are signs that the public health community is gaining momentum in confronting the climate crisis. Three critical lessons emerged: the need for institutional change from the top of public health, the essential power of community in intersectoral action on climate change preparedness, and the importance of centring Indigenous wisdom to decolonize colonial legacy systems. We encourage readers to move public health research and practice from an instrumental relationship with nature to one of reverence and sacred reciprocity.