Critical Condition: Human Health and the Environment

by Eric Chivian (Editor), Howard Hu (Editor), Michael McCally (Editor)

For the first time in human history we are altering the basic physiology of the planet, yet until now there has been no single source that summarizes the medical consequences of this environmental crisis for human beings. Critical Condition provides a comprehensive, easy-to-follow review of this most critical and yet most negelected subject in the environmental debate. It brings together the best medical information available about global environmental degradation, including the effects on human health of war and military preparation, global warming, ozone depletion, species extinction, and loss of biodiversity―matters that are generally not addressed in the literature of environmental health. Underlying these contributions are three major that the habitat is an important determinant of human health, that prevention of human illness must involve protection of the environment and preservation of ecosystems, and that well-informed physicians can and should communicate with the public and policy makers about environmental hazards.

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1993

About the author

Eric S. Chivian is the founder and director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment (CHGE) at Harvard Medical School, where he is also an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry.

A 1964 graduate of Harvard University (AB, biochemistry), he went on to graduate from Harvard Medical School in 1968.

In recent years, Chivian has worked to explore common ground between scientific and religious perspectives on environmental issues. Together with the Rev. Richard Cizik, then Vice President for Governmental Affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals, Chivian was named by Time (magazine) in 2008 as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World, for their work in organizing scientists and evangelicals to join together in efforts to protect the global environment.