Abstract
Now that it’s my responsibility to be attentive to the contents of Wilderness & Environmental Medicine, I was struck by the diversity of topics covered in this issue of our journal. Perhaps this shouldn’t have been at all surprising since our Guide for Authors outlines a wide variety of pertinent topics considered for publication. But this particular issue seems to encompass many of those areas through inclusion of articles related to traditional wilderness and mountain medicine, medical practice in rugged environments, and health risks from plants and animals, as well as the evolving area of sports medicine in the wilderness. This represents much of the range of topics now considered within the realm of “wilderness medicine.”
While this issue of the journal aptly covers a wide variety of these wilderness medicine topics, I found myself reflecting about the lack of coverage that would fully reflect the “environmental” portion of our journal name. Considering the contents of past issues, this is not a unique feature of the current issue.
You may recall that this journal made its start as the Journal of Wilderness Medicine in 1990. Under the leadership of Paul Auerbach and Oswald Oelz as co-editors, the journal name was changed to Wilderness & Environmental Medicine in 1995. In his editorial with the initial issue under the new name, Auerbach 1 wrote that this change “clarifies the interrelationship between the forces which shape our natural environment and those which impact on the physiology and health of human beings.” This was 3 years after the Wilderness Medical Society had already formally noted an interest in this area by establishing the Environmental Council “to explore the connections between environmental health and human health.” 2
It is clear that our natural environment is being shaped by human forces, and there is a growing consensus that environmental change will have an increasingly negative impact on human health. As I write this, the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris has just wrapped up, having convened heads of state who reached a global agreement to reduce climate change. Within these negotiations were discussions related to the health impacts from global warming.
Such effects as droughts, floods, heat waves, and air pollution related to climate change will produce rippling effects on food production, infectious disease spread, chronic illnesses, and more. Because of this direct link between environmental change and human health, medical professionals have been called to play a greater role in the relevant discussion and advocacy for environmental wellness. 3 In referring to such advocacy, Jay Lemery 3 pointed out that “as the sole physician organization dedicated to medical care in the wilderness, our Society [referring to the Wilderness Medical Society] is uniquely well poised to take a leadership role in this field.” Being that we are concerned with the welfare of both our patients and the wilderness, he adds “there is no better argument to convince people to advocate for environmental wellness than to educate on the direct link to human health.” 3
I’m pleased that Wilderness & Environmental Medicine will help do our part to advance science in this area with Jay Lemery as a new Section Editor for Environmental Medicine. This section will provide the format for scientific work that examines the relationship of environmental change on human health with a particular focus on climate change, toxins and pollutants, and loss of biodiversity. Given that human health will increasingly depend on a safe environment and stable climate, attention to this topic within the journal is timely and relevant, and fits appropriately within the broad field of wilderness medicine.