Environmental Biodynamics: A New Science of How the Environment Interacts with Human Health [Hardcover]

Environmental Biodynamicsoffers a daring new inquiry into our environment and its impact on human health by redefining how we conceptualize interactions between complex systems.Is there a central scientific theory governing how human physiology interacts with the environment?Our environment exerts a profound effect on our health and well-being. Yet, the rules guiding such interaction between individual human physiology and the environment remain elusive. While various disciplines have emerged studying components and base interactions of each system, no method has successfully predicted the dynamic behavior between these complex systems in real time.Environmental Biodynamicsoffers a daring new inquiry into our environment and its impact on human health. Moving beyond a reductionist view of human physiology and the environment, this volume proposes a fundamental shift in environmental health science from quantifying structural relationships, such as static measures of environmental factors or momentary health indicators, to studying functional interdependencies in time. Across six chapters, the authors weave together the latest research from biology, environmental science, theoretical physics, mathematics, and philosophy to explore their Biodynamic Interface Theory, which states that complex systems connect primarily through a dynamic, operationally independent interface that regulates the bidirectional interactions between systems over time. Later chapters compare the proposed theory against current practice and provide suggestions for further methods of data collection and computational analysis. Supported by vivid full-color diagrams and a wealth of original data,Environmental Biodynamicsis an accessible theoretical guide to this promising new field of environmental healthForeword by Linda S. BirnbaumPrefaceChapter 1: Introduction to Environmental BiodynamicsChapter 2: The Lens of Thingness : Structuralism, Reductionism lƒ€