Planetary Health Glasses

The Planetary Health glasses serve as a metaphorical tool, inviting people to visualise a healthy and equitable world through the planetary health perspective.

Here's a glimpse of what one can see when wearing these glasses:

The interconnectedness of human health and natural and social ecosystems
The power of diversity and different perspectives
A shift of focus from curing disease to promoting health and preventing disease
The significance of values such as equity, collaboration, compassion, playfulness, and gratitude
The importance of engaging stakeholders in scientific research and adhering to principles of open science
Strategies to reduce CO2 emissions, biodiversity loss and minimise waste production

This playful metaphor helps to activate people to undertake collective action to safeguard our ecosystems and ensure the well-being of all living beings.

Creation process

In 2022, the concept of Planetary Health Glasses was created by CO2-assistant, a student-led initiative advocating for the integration of planetary health into medical education. The concept was further developed by the Planetary Health Impulse Team (UMC Utrecht, Nov 2022 - Dec 2023) further developed the concept. This team was built up by Arte Groenewegen, Jopke Janmaat (both co-founders of the CO2-assistant) and Florijn Dekkers (co-founder of Green Labs NL) and had a clear mission: to accelerate the integration of planetary health in The Faculty of Medicine. They operated on three pillars - raising awareness, fostering knowledge and developing educational innovations - and applied principles of transition management. To support their mission, they designed digital and wearable planetary health glasses to empower individuals to visualise their future and create actionable steps towards it.

In 2023, 1.5-meter big glasses were created with Studio Sociaal Centraal and Knowledge Centre Global Health for display at the European Conference on Global Health - ECTMIH2023. The glasses received positive attention and emphasised the power of creativity and imagination to cultivate a social movement and collective action.

Curious to experience the planetary health classes yourself?

We are excited to share these glasses with you and spread the planetary health perspective. Please reach out via email to ofni.[antispam].@kcgh.nl to inquire about availability and where you can lend or create your own pair of Planetary Health Glasses. If you are interested in digital or 2D content, click here to download the glasses in different colours or backgrounds.

Creative Commons

To facilitate the dissemination of the planetary health concept, the Planetary Health glasses have a Creative Commons licence. When using the planetary health glasses please give appropriate credits by making the following reference:

For more information please go to CreativeCommons.

The glasses have been showcased at various events and international conferences from 2023 onwards. A small impression:

Event The Healthcare Student

ECTMIH2023

WEON2024

Young Professionals Brabant event '24

Experience stories

Young Professionals Brabant

"The Young Professionals Brabant (an independent provincial youth advisory council) is putting a healthy future for Brabant on the map. They have drawn inspiration from the Planetary Health Glasses for this. They asked young people in Brabant: What is needed to gain perspective on a healthy future? What do you wish for a Livable and Healthy Brabant? This resulted in valuable feedback, such as: Ensuring breathing space. Literally, by providing clean air and green spaces. And figuratively, by offering time and space for personal development. The YPB also presented the Planetary Health Glasses on stage at the Day of Health in the Provincial House in Den Bosch. They invited the Provincial Executive for Health and Well-being, along with the other participants of the event, to look at the future of Brabant through these glasses. Because if you take good care of the planet, and therefore of Brabant’s physical environment, you also take good care of the health of the people living there."