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Panel disscussion with: Prof. Nina Mackert (Hamburg University), Dr. André Krebber (Freiburg University), and Lijuan Klassen (Rachel Carson Center)
Amidst the unprecedented and irreversible changes to the Earth caused by human activities, the transdisciplinary field of Planetary Health has emerged to study the ‘impacts of human disruptions to Earth’s natural systems on human health and all life on Earth’. While planetary health is described not only as a research field but also as a social movement, the framework often lacks critical reflection on its normative assumptions about ‘health’ and the power imbalance and privileges within its own institutional structures. How appropriate, after all, is a concept such as ‘health’ when applied to the planet? Can a planet, or its populations, be considered healthy in the same sense as an individual organism? Even on the level of an organism, health is far more than the mere aggregation of properly functioning organs; it is shaped by the subjective experience, shared cultural norms, social expectations and historical contingencies. To call someone healthy is already to invoke a vision of what counts as a life well lived. What counts as an optimal level of health or environmental robustness? Who determines what is good for the planet?
Join us for the launch event of the special issue, 'Imagining Planetary Health, Well-being and Habitability', recently published in Global Environment. To introduce the subject of Planetary Health, we will first visit the exhibition Planetary Health — One Planet exhibition. One Health. Our Future. One Health. Our Future at the Deutsches Museum, where we will be given a guided tour. Afterwards, we will return to the Rachel Carson Center for a panel discussion with some of the contributors to the issue.
Please RSVP for the guided tour by sending an e-mail to: lu.klassen[at]rcc.lmu.de with the subject line ‘guided tour’
Schedule
14:45 Meeting at the entrance (inside) of the Deutsches Museum, Museumsinsel 1, 80538 München
15:00 - 16:00 Guided tour of the special exhibition Planetary Health — One Planet. One Health. Our Future.
16:45 - 18:00 Panel Discussion at the Rachel Carson Center, fourth floor, conference room
This event is organised by the Rachel Carson Center and the Munich Science Communication Lab (MSCL).