RecapIn the four previous posts of what has become a six-part series, each part addresses specific topics related to envisioning a sustainable future: Part I – relevant characteristics and qualities a worldview value system might represent; Part 2 – major sociocultural, economic, and political challenges; Part 3 – social equality and equity issues; and Part 4 – long-term socioeconomic and ecological goals and responses. Here, in Part 5, we envision the essential sociocultural topics of health and wellness in creating a resilient and sustainable future.
With this penultimate post in what is now a six-part series, we near the end our envisioning process. For the few weeks following this series, our attention will focus on designing a sustainable future. It bears noting that, although the processes of “envisioning” and “designing” are mutually interlinked in content, they vary in intent. Envisioning requires aspirational imagining, while designing requires defining actionable steps and plans. Heretofore, content has included both imagining and designing processes that will continue throughout the designing stages.
Seeking Health and Wellness
It seems accurate to state that health and wellness topics rank at the top of everyone’s life concerns. Along with overall physical health wellness, psycho-emotional health in the U.S. (and elsewhere) remains an essential topic of societal concern. From all indications, the cause may well be attributed to the increasing complexity and complications of living in a modern society committed to pursuing and modeling harmful values. For certain, the range and scale of negative health statistics are staggering.
Based on media health news in recent years, as demonstrated by an National Institute of Mental Health (NIH) report in 2022, there are plentiful bad-news health issues to raise alarms. For example, within that year U.S. adults aged 18 or older experiencing what is referred to as Any Mental Illness (AMI) was estimated at 19.1%. Female percentages (26.4%) were higher than males (19.7%), and young adults aged 18-25 were much higher (36.2%) when compared with persons older than 50 (13.9%).
In terms of percentages, adolescents aged 13-18 fared worse of all. Based on diagnostic-interview data from National Comorbidity Survey Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A), an estimated 49.5% of adolescents experienced a mental disorder, and an estimated 22.2% had severe impairment and/or distress. Some statistics based on students’ reports show signs of improvement, including indications of fewer suicides, and lower use of alcohol, marijuana, and prescription opioids consumed. However, the report revealed signs of violence in schools, and students missing due to safety concerns. Moreover, 2 out of 19 girls reported having non-consensual sex, and LGBTQ+ students were particularly affected.
As for physical health, National Institute of Health (NIH) reports that chronic diseases continue affecting many people, notably heart disease and stroke, cancer, opioid addiction, and infectious diseases. It’s common knowledge that the lack of good nutrition, regular exercise, exposure to Nature, and positive social connections produced by our modern lifestyle contributes to chronic diseases and multiple physical disorders. For instance, a recent New York Times article cites a report (The Lancet ) that estimates three quarters of U.S. adults over the age of 25 are either overweight or obese and at risk for serious health conditions, including diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, and shortened life expectancy. At this rate, by 2050 there could be 260-million overweight adults, as determined by body mass index (B.M.I). Of U.S. teens and young adults (ages15-24), almost half are either overweight or obese, compared to 29% in 1990. The main drivers are well known: ultra-processed foods, lack of access to fresh fruits and vegetables, and sedentary lifestyles due to excessive online activity.
Indeed, modernity’s advanced technologies and copious energy consumption have unintentionally created some serious health and wellness issues for contemporary humans. For instance, for decades the profligate use of chemicals, especially synthetic forms, are responsible for generating ongoing toxic chemical pollution of air, water, soil, and even the bodies of most biosphere lifeforms, including us. The result is a litany of long-term health problems experienced later in a being’s life cycle. Of particular concern is the omnipresent saturation of every earthly being and thing with polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Most alarming is the news that global sperm counts – for humans and animals – has fallen around 50% over the past 50 years, and PFAs have been implicated as the likely cause.
On the flip side, most well-off middle and upper-class world citizens benefit greatly from a wide range of remarkable medical interventions aimed and improving (or rectifying) mind-body health and wellness. In addition to special medicines, high-tech equipment, well-equipped facilities, and ample energy, a variety of well-trained medical specialists provide exceptional care for most, at least in most developed countries.
Ironically, the reliance on such expensive energy-consuming medical care has served to partially compensate for health issues that stem from society’s consumptive addiction to ultra-processed foods. Finally, let us not overlook how our wonderful technologies encourage us to enjoy sedentary, quick-fix, just-in-time lifestyles.
Such consumptive behaviors provide ample evidence of externalities associated with the innovation, promotion, and use of products that have not received careful scientific studies and testing for potentially long-range, harmful outcomes. Many products are often rushed into production and consumed by a trusting public, with harmful ingredients that negatively affect people later in their lives, and their descendants as well. Overcoming such harmful practices will require setting realistic limits in most areas of life, especially in healthcare fields.
When dealing with any serious human health and wellness issue, it seems the most rational and practical approach is to focus on taking preventive measures. In addition to promoting regular (annual) medical exams and ongoing care for all citizens, a comprehensive prevention strategy might include instituting government regulation policies that incentivize the production and marketing of healthy food.
Food and dietary experts identify some principal measures, including 1) banning the use of toxic chemicals; 2) using regenerative strategies in creating healthy conditions for crops, e.g., soil building, crop rotation, no-tilling, etc.; 3) providing healthy and humane treatment of livestock; and 4) taking measures to reduce and conserve natural materials, including energy sources, water, and waste products.
Wrap Up
As I was writing the material covered in this Part 5, I realized it was twice as long as desired for a single article. Hence, in this post I decided to focus on health and wellness issues, and apply the sociological educational values and goals section in the next post (Part 6). I imagine most readers won’t be disappointed in having less to read.
In the meantime, I trust you will find time to ponder the health and wellness issues we’ve covered herein. If you think of any concerns not addressed, please let me know. Personally, as a dedicated believer in observing preventive measures, I try to consume healthy food and drink, avoid and minimize harmful risk-taking habits, and exercise regularly. I would like to get more sleep, but at my ripe age it doesn’t come easily.
My advice to anyone, particularly young persons, is to place a premium value on obtaining and maintaining optimal body-mind health and wellness. And I hope you agree!
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Clifton Ware, D.M., retired professor (voice), professional singer and author of four published books and two unpublished works, retired in 2007 from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities School of Music, where he taught for 37 years. Since retiring, as a self-described socio-ecological philosopher he has spent 15 years focusing on sustainability issues, in the process of acquiring an evidence-based, big-picture understanding of all principal societal and ecological systems, including the symbiotic interconnections and role of humans as an integral part of Nature. In 2013 he founded Citizens for Sustainability in St. Anthony Village, MN, produced Sustainability News + Views (2014-2019), a weekly newsletter featuring a variety of articles and a commentary, co-composed 13 Eco Songs with his wife, Bettye, organized Sustainability Forums, and performed eco-oriented programs and presentations for several organizations.
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