New Field of Ecological Medicine Emphasizes Health Benefits of Connectedness
Ecological medicine is a new approach to health science that draws on a very old idea: connecting with each other, with animals and plants, and with the natural world fosters health and well-being for people and the planet.
“Everything you suspected was good for you -- fresh air, trees, animal companions, purpose, reciprocity -- turns out to have peer-reviewed backing,” said Rebecca Calisi Rodríguez, associate professor of neurobiology, physiology and behavior and director of the Green Care Lab at the University of California, Davis.
Ecological medicine also explicitly integrates Indigenous peoples’ understanding of how humans belong to and relate with the natural world.
Calisi Rodríguez, Professor emeritus Lynette Hart of the School of Veterinary Medicine and Associate Professor Alessandro Ossola of the Department of Plant Sciences and Urban Science Lab coauthored a consensus statement defining the field of ecological medicine, which was published Oct. 25 in the journal Ecohealth.