I wrote a book. Actually, I co-wrote a book. The book, published by Wiley in January 2019, is Introduction to One Health: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Planetary Health (https://bit.ly/2rIZfjd). Parts of the book are open access, including the first chapter in which the two other authors and I use our home base in St. Louis, Missouri, situated on the bank of the Mississippi River, as an example of the One Health challenges and opportunities that flow through our past, present and future. Try it out https://bit.ly/2VUdKSM.

We divided the book into 6 sections, including (1) An Introduction and Impetus for One Health; (2) The One Health Triad; (3) Practitioners and Their Tools; (4) How to Start a Movement; (5) Humanities of One Health; and (6) Where Do We Go From Here. These sections are further divided into 15 chapters, in which we seek to answer the what, where, when, why, who, and how of One Health. Science at the core, we include interviews of persons across disciplines showing the diversity of career choices necessary to solve today’s health challenges and case studies of real life One Health challenges and opportunities. We also use storytelling as the vehicle for inspiring next-generation planetary health care-givers. The foreword, written by Dan Ashe, CEO and President of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, starts the book off with his take on why we need biodiversity and how One Health will help us continue to have a planet full of life, and one worth inhabiting, as the 21st Century unfolds.

Last year, I took a test. You might not think this is the best way to start a blog, but stay with me. The test I took is different. My students and I, during the One Health course I was co-teaching at Washington University in St. Louis, did a group activity and took a test. It was even “fun!” This test is one that everyone, including you, should take and that allows you to calculate your ecological footprint.

An Ecological What?

First, you may ask, “What is an ecological footprint?” One definition for an ecological footprint is that it is a measure of the ecological assets (all those living species and non-living things that share the planet with us!) a given person or population requires if she/he/they are to continue living the same way as they are right now.

A second blog of our July 2018 trip of a lifetime. This one written and illustrated by trip photographer, Joshua Vela Fonesca. Joshua shares his artistic vision as the Galapagos Tortoise Movement Ecology Programme team (well - not the whole team. Steve and Anne were back on Santa Cruz Island!) works for tortoise conservation.

Joshua’s photography and words capture this magical week!

Enjoy!

In July 2017. I spent a week working and living on the edge of Alcedo Volcano on Isabela Island in the Galapagos. I could not have asked for a better team than my travel companions of Freddy Cabrera, Ainoa Nieto Claudin, Surya Castillo, Joshua Vela and José Haro. This trip was part of the larger Galapagos Tortoise Movement Ecology Programme as well as part of Dr. Ainoa Nieto Claudin’s PhD work.

Ainoa wrote a really nice blog that has been shared on the Charles Darwin Foundation www.darwinfoundation.org and the Galapagos Conservation Trust https://galapagosconservation.org.uk websites. Ainoa did such a nice job on capturing the trip that I share her blog here as well.

Please find this month’s blog at https://www.darwinfoundation.org/en/blog-articles/409-science-and-conservation-at-the-edge-of-a-volcano-in-galapagos