If our planet were a patient, it would be admitted to intensive care. Its vital signs are alarming.

It is running a fever, with each of the last nine months the hottest on record, as we hurtle towards the 1.5 degree threshold.

Its lung capacity is compromised, with the destruction of forests that absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen.

And many of the earth’s water sources – its lifeblood – are contaminated.

Most concerning of all, its condition is deteriorating rapidly.

Is it any wonder, then, that human health is suffering, when the health of the planet on which we depend is in peril?

The health of humans, animals and our environment are woven together in a bond that is inextricable, yet fragile. We belong to the same unique, finely balanced ecosystem.

This is not a new realisation. Hippocrates, the father of medicine, wrote in the 5th century BCE that, “The physician treats, but nature heals.”

We are now re-learning what humans have always known, but which, since the industrial revolution, we have forgotten or ignored – that […]