Human Frontiers, Environments and Disease

Abstract

This compelling account charts the relentless trajectory of humankind, and its changing survival and disease patterns, across place and time from when our ancient ancestors roamed the African Savannah to today's populous, industrialised, globalising world. This expansion of human frontiers - geographic, climatic, cultural and technological - has encountered frequent setbacks from disease, famine and dwindling resources. The social and environmental transformations wrought by agrarianism, industrialisation, fertility control, social modernisation, urbanisation and mass consumption have profoundly affected patterns of health and disease. Today, as life expectancies rise, the planet's ecosystems are being damaged by the combined weight of population size and intensive economic activity. Global warming, stratospheric ozone depletion and loss of biodiversity pose large-scale hazards to human health and survival. Recognising this, can we achieve a transition to sustainability? This and other profound questions underlie this chronicle of expansive human activity, social change, environmental impact and their health consequences.

Season of birth is associated with anthropometric and neurocognitive outcomes during infancy and childhood in a general population birth cohort

“…work load varies across seasons in agrarian societies), and disease exposures (e.g. respiratory viruses may be more prevalent in winter, vectors for malaria have seasonal breeding cycles) (McMichael, 2001). In addition to this complex web of environmental changes, human behaviour is modified in a transactional fashion with the environment.…”

Human Health, Well-Being, and Global Ecological Scenarios

“…Current trends toward an increasingly large environmental footprint, further climate change, depletion of fossil fuels, and the erosion of existing ecological and social buffers are disturbing and unlikely to be sustainable (McMichael 2001). On the other hand, the increasing capacity to conceptualize, diagnose, and modify the global environment gives hope that humanity will self-organize in ways that can sustain both its social and ecological functions (Crutzen 2002).…”

Seasonal fluctuations in birth weight and neonatal limb length; does prenatal vitamin D influence neonatal size and shape?

“…Photoperiod is associated with diurnal fluctuations in various hormones and melatonin [34]. Indirectly, seasonal fluctuations can impact on health status via nutrition (e.g., availability of seasonal food products like fruit), energy expenditure (e.g., work load varies across seasons in agrarian societies), and disease exposures (e.g., respiratory viruses may be more prevalent in winter, vectors for malaria have seasonal breeding cycles) [35]. In addition to this complex web of environmental changes, human behaviour is modified in a transactional fashion with the environment.…”