#ISSS2016 Boulder

2800 Within all watersheds, ecosystem health is intrinsically linked to human health. The pathways of this coupling are multiple, diffuse and interacting. For example, the percentage of canopy cover in a given area is an indicator of both human and watershed health; more shade lowers surrounding temperature and helps to reduce rates of heat stress and skin cancer caused by sun exposure, and treed areas mitigate rainfall runoff, assist water infiltration and reduce risks of flooding. A recent study in Toronto found that having ten more trees on streets had a health impact equivalent to being seven years younger. To understand and manage such relationships requires an approach that appreciates the complex coupling of human and natural systems. The work we describe in this paper demonstrates an ecosystem approach to human health and well-being (a.k.a. an ecohealth approach) at the watershed scale. To explore the extent to which watershed governance agencies activity manage for both ecosystem and human health, we drew upon the Watershed Governance Prism to develop case studies and inform a self-assessment of five watershed governance organizations (the Fraser Basin Council, Cowichan Watershed Board, Save Our Seine Environment Inc., Otonabee Region Conservation Authority and Lake Simcoe and Region Conservation Authority). Through this work, we identified the need for a more strategic approach to watershed governance that actively seeks linkages with public health institutions to meet goals that are common to both the health and environment sectors. We found that watershed organizations’ programs affect the social and environmental determinants of health at multiple spatial and organizational scales, but awareness and indicators of the potential benefits are underdeveloped and poorly conceptualized. Stepping out from this study, researchers at York University and the Credit Valley Conservation Authority have collaborated on a project that seeks to understand and communicate the relationship among various watershed ecosystem components and human health and well-being. In the first phase of this project, we surveyed residents within the Credit River watershed about their perceptions of the connection(s) between their health and their surrounding environment, and we facilitated a workshop with governance stakeholders to identify key indicators of such relationships. Among our findings, we noted that some residents of the Credit River watershed understood that such fundamental relationships exist among the natural environment and their health. For example, many believed that places associated with water, such as streams and ponds, had a stronger effect on their health than other green spaces. We also found that older respondents had a greater appreciation of such connections than did younger respondents. Governance stakeholders identified several environmental indicators of health that would better communicate environment and health relationships. The top three were: percentage of canopy cover, access to green space, and percentage of impervious surfaces. We used this information in the design of an interactive web-based tool and geographic information system. This web-GIS displays provincial, regional, and municipal data related to the Credit River watershed, including indicators of health and descriptions of how they influence human health and well-being. It also includes a storytelling component that provides an opportunity for residents within the watershed to share personal experiences of their connection to the environment. The web-GIS is intended to educate the public about ecosystem services and their influence on people, and to demonstrate the impact of the work of Credit Valley Conservation not only on ecosystem health but also on human well-being. In the second phase of the project, we are further developing the web-GIS tool to support scenario planning for ecosystem and human health in the Credit River Watershed.

2813 Bio-mimetics have often provided a useful means of inspiration for engineering design – for instance in fabrication of materials for aerospace. One more recent area of interest, from the perspective of cyber security has been in the remarkable ability of the immune system to cope with the diversity and evolution of threats such as bacteria and viruses. The focus of this presentation is to further examine the architectural parallels between biological systems and engineered solutions in defence and security. Systems thinking and modelling are the tools utilized in examining the architectures and the capabilities of the biological systems such as anticipatory, adaptability and sustainability. In performing such an examination it is anticipated that insight and potential improvements may be found in both directions – improvements in our approaches to combat complex disease and also possible inspiration in the science, architectures and designs for our sustainable systems.

2882 Systemic wishes for the Chinese New Year is the blessing to each other in China in the beginning of each year. According to the Five Aggregate Human Mind system developed by Buddha, our minds are composed of five systems. Systemic Healthcare should be about balancing each one of these systems, and balancing between the systems. The ultimate goal is to live healthily so that we can work and play and achieve our tasks in life. In this paper, we try to classify the Traditional Chinese healthcare therapies according to these five aggregates to help human to become physically strong, emotionally happy, mentally kind, behaviorally charitable, and spiritually enlightened. The basic essentials in life include clothing, food, housing and transportation. In the Confucian classic, one of the disciples once said “Food and sex are basic instincts of human beings”. The desire for food ensures the physical survival of oneself, and the instinct on sexual desire makes sure the continuation of the family, clan and race. In order to have a stable flow, better basic essentials are required. They are usually related to the following four-character blessing phrases. These desires stimulate the research into efficient and effective methods for good survival and continuity, and part of the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Healthcare is about physical body healthcare. Here we will try to match it with the physical component of the Five Aggregate Human Mind System developed by Buddha. TCM healthcare can be divided into three different secret ingredients. The goal of emotional healthcare is to remain undisturbed by negative emotions thus falling into a vicious cycle. One should instead consistently concentrate on positive emotions, gradually and naturally resulting in the distillation of happy emotions and pleasant bodily sensations. Mental Healthcare aims to improve one’s habitual love and hate tendencies. We should eliminate feelings of jealousy for the rich and contempt for the poor. One should also forsake employing improper means purely to succeed. Nor should one selfishly seek pleasure at the expense of the feelings of others. In contrast we should develop our love towards the four pure characteristics in the teaching of Buddha, and relinquish the three evil toxic characteristics of human, namely craving, aversion and ignorance. The four pure characteristics can be simply understood as “unconditional love” towards others, mercy on the elderly and weak, sympathetic joy of sharing, and acceptance of the reality of life and human relations. Behavioral Healthcare is about our action, and we try to match it with the “Action Aggregate” of the Five Aggregate Human Mind system of the teaching of Buddha. Buddha divides the Action Aggregate into three different kinds, namely the bodily action, the verbal action and the mental intention action (brain wave? energy field?). The teachings of Buddha include: “Do not withhold an action because it will only do little good, and do not perform an action because it will only do little evil”. Therefore we should choose only charitable actions with goodwill. Only such actions could achieve the traditional Chinese wish of “Everyone embraced in one harmonious Qi”. The definition of being healthy by the World Health Organization, WHO, includes healthiness in three aspects, namely the physical, mental and “social”. Spiritual Healthcare is about the improvement of our in-born characteristics, possibly hidden in our physical DNA or our energetic “spirits” fields (Aura?). We now try to match this with the “Observation Aggregate” of the Five Aggregate Human Mind system in the teaching of Buddha. Here we must put our foundation in the fundamental teaching of Buddha in the “Four Nobel Truth”, guided especially by the “Right View” and “Right Thought” in the “Eight-Fold Nobel Path”, which is the fourth part of the Noble Truth.