Total Health. A care scheme for human and non-human victims of environmental damage

Abstract

At the end of the sixties, and as a response to the demands of the "modern environmental movement," the "greening of human rights" started by acknowledging that, in order to fully enjoy them, a healthy environment was essential. Under this perspective, a healthy environment was recognized as a human right and legislative bodies were set up to protect it. However, being structured from an anthropocentric perspective, the limit of such bodies was the human well-being, which therefore gave rise to a state of defenselessness for other living beings and permissive norms that have lead to harming the environment. In response to the above, and from a biocentric perspective, an attempt has been made to come up with a new paradigm for truly protecting other elements of nature, whereby they deserve to be respected for the simple fact of existing. Under this context, the victimizations resulting from environmental damage should be understood from a holistic perspective that includes caring for human and non-human victims and guaranteeing well-being, health and life as a whole. Our research group has developed a framework for studying this scenario, which we have named “Total Health”. We have launched exploratory projects for providing Total Health care at contaminated sites. The main characteristics of this approach and the first results are presented in this article. Likewise, the central aspects of a bill that we sent to the local congress are also discussed herein.