ABSTRACT
Chapters 9 and 10 of Psychology for Sustainability, 5th edition, comprise a section titled What’s Good for the Planet is Good for Us, which makes salient the reciprocal relationship between planetary and human well-being. This first chapter in the pair focuses on ways that unsustainable industrialized living neglects or disrupts basic biological needs, causing or contributing to myriad diseases (e.g., diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular illness, and cancer) and shortened lifespan. Contemporary lifestyles are replete with mental, physical, and environmental stressors that chronically activate the sympathetic nervous system. Sleep deprivation due to light and noise pollution, habitual if not compulsive multitasking with electronic devices, and insufficient exercise and nutrition (i.e., the standard American/Western pattern diet) adversely impact psychological and physical health. The second half of the chapter reviews evidence that toxicants in electronics, plastics and other consumer goods, pesticides, industrial by-products and wastes, and naturally occurring metals (lead and mercury) bioaccumulate in the tissues of humans and other animals and disrupt hormonal, neural, immune, and other physiological systems. Toxic exposures contribute to epidemic rates of neurodevelopmental disabilities (attention-deficit disorder, autism, cognitive impairments, and developmental delays) and mental health problems (depression and anxiety). Endocrine disruption contributes to rising rates of infertility and affects aspects of development relevant to gender identity and sexual orientation. The deleterious effects of air pollution are exacerbated by climate change, demonstrating how new hazards arise when systems interact. Climate change is discussed as a public health emergency that, like other threats in the chapter, disproportionately affects poor and marginalized people.
