092 Planetary Boundaries & Health with Mia Heide from WELA cover art

092 Planetary Boundaries & Health with Mia Heide from WELA

092 Planetary Boundaries & Health with Mia Heide from WELA

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 Planetary boundaries, wellbeing & healthcare with Mia Heide (WELA)

What does it actually mean for human health that we’ve now exceeded 7 out of 9 planetary boundaries – up from 6 out of 9 in 2023 – and how should healthcare systems respond?

In this episode, we're joined by Mia Heide, engineer and researcher at WELA – Wellbeing Economy Lab, to unpack the latest science and what it implies for policy, practice, and care pathways. Sustainable Healthcare Podcast …

We talk about:
  • What the planetary boundaries framework is – and why it’s about hard limits, not “nice-to-have” goals
  • The new 2025 assessment showing we’ve transgressed 7/9 boundaries, and what changed since 2023

  • How to downscale planetary boundaries to a country level (e.g. Denmark) using different sharing principles – equal per capita, capacity to reduce, historical responsibility, and “grandfathering”

  • Why some principles give wealthy countries like Denmark a negative carbon budget, and why “equal” is not the same as “fair”

  • The concept of decent living standards – what’s the minimum energy and material footprint needed to secure basic human needs globally?

  • Health impacts of specific boundaries once we overshoot them, including:
    • Climate change: extreme weather, heat stress, displacement and food security
    • Freshwater change: water scarcity, sanitation breakdown, conflict risk
    • Novel entities (PFAS, microplastics, synthetic chemicals): cancer risk, hormone disruption, fertility impacts – and why this is hugely under-discussed in public health

  • The uncomfortable paradox: we need to meet basic needs and stay within limits – and every tonne of CO₂ still counts

  • Why healthcare decarbonisation must be seen in a two-way relationship:
    • Healthcare activities impact planetary boundaries
    • Overshooting those boundaries, in turn, undermines population health and health system resilience

  • Where Mia still finds motivation and drive in 2025 – and why “a different world is possible” is not just a slogan
About our guest – Mia Heide & WELA
Mia Heide is an engineer and researcher at WELA – Wellbeing Economy Lab, a Danish, independent think tank working for a wellbeing economy where societal progress is measured by the ability to create good lives for all within planetary boundaries – now and for future generations.

Resources & links mentioned
  • Mia’s working paper (in Danish)
    “Trivsel inden for de planetære grænser” – WELA working paper on planetary boundaries, wellbeing and health
    👉 WELA publications page: https://www.wellbeingeconomylab.com/udgivelser
  • Decent living standards & minimum energy
    Millward-Hopkins et al. (2020): “Providing decent living with minimum energy: A global scenario”
    👉 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378020307512
  • Planetary boundaries & latest assessments
    • Richardson et al. (2023) – updated assessment of the planetary boundaries (Stockholm Resilience Centre)
    • Planetary Health Check 2025 – Executive Summary (global status update)
      👉 https://www.planetaryhealthcheck.org/wp-content/uploads/PlanetaryHealthCheck2025_ExecutiveSummary.pdf
If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a colleague, rate the show, or suggest future guests – it really helps us bring more voices like Mia’s into the sustainable healthcare conversation.
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