Short description:

This book presents a comprehensive and actionable framework for individuals and leaders seeking to promote human dignity within healthy environments. Rooted in the policy sciences approach, it equips readers with the essential concepts, tools, and skills necessary to address indignity and unhealthy conditions collectively.

Despite international commitments and domestic laws advocating for human dignity, a glaring "human dignity gap" persists in numerous regions and problem contexts. This book sheds light on this disparity, examining its manifestations in global environmental change, development efforts, water insecurity, wildfires, human-wildlife conflict, access to public health, and much more. While existing scholarship often focuses on legal rights, the authors emphasize untapped opportunities for everyday citizens and leaders to foster human dignity within their communities and beyond.

By offering fresh perspectives, practical concepts, and exercises, this book empowers readers to bridge the performance gap, ultimately enabling the realization of human dignity from the grassroots level. It provides innovative strategies and frameworks to address this pressing global issue, making it an invaluable resource for scholars, policymakers, and concerned citizens alike.

Long description:

This book presents a comprehensive and actionable framework for individuals and leaders seeking to promote human dignity within healthy environments. Rooted in the policy sciences approach, it equips readers with the essential concepts, tools, and skills necessary to address indignity and unhealthy conditions collectively.

Despite international commitments and domestic laws advocating for human dignity, a glaring "human dignity gap" persists in numerous regions and problem contexts. This book sheds light on this disparity, examining its manifestations in global environmental change, development efforts, water insecurity, wildfires, human-wildlife conflict, access to public health, and much more. While existing scholarship often focuses on legal rights, the authors emphasize untapped opportunities for everyday citizens and leaders to foster human dignity within their communities and beyond.

By offering fresh perspectives, practical concepts, and exercises, this book empowers readers to bridge the performance gap, ultimately enabling the realization of human dignity from the grassroots level. It provides innovative strategies and frameworks to address this pressing global issue, making it an invaluable resource for scholars, policymakers, and concerned citizens alike.

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1. Introduction: Human Dignity and Healthy Environments.- Part 1: Conceptualizing Human Dignity, Closing the Gap.- Chapter 2. Introducing the Human Dignity Gap.- Chapter 3. Living and Leading for Human Dignity.- Chapter 4. Systematic Thinking for Human Dignity.- Chapter 5. Knowledge of Dignity Concerns.- Chapter 6. Problem Orientation Understanding.- Chapter 7. Accounting for Social Dynamics.- Chapter 8. Connecting to Decision Making.- Part 2: Practicing Problem Solving for Human Dignity.- Chapter 9. Reflecting on Yourself and Others.- Chapter 10. Learning About Goal Values.- Chapter 11. Interactions and Communications.- Chapter 12. Influencing Decision-making.- Chapter 13. Understanding Institutions.- Chapter 14. Social Change.- Chapter 15. Improving Capacity and Agency.- Part 3: Illustrating Problem Solving for Human Dignity.- Chapter 16. Community Food Security as an Entry Point for FoodSystem Change: A Case by David Pelletier.- Chapter 17. Enhancing Health Professionals’ Competencies to Support Breastfeeding Mothers in Quebec, Canada: A Case by Isabelle Michaud-létourneau, Jacqueline Wassef, Julie Lauzière, Laura Rosa Pascual, Marion Gayard, and Micheline Beaudry.- Chapter 18. Wildfire Risk and the Problem of Insurability: A Case by Matthew Auer.- Chapter 19. The Prospects for Ethnic Minorities in Southeast Asia: Using Policy Sciences to Avoid Analytic Pitfalls and Poor Policies: A Case by William Ascher.- Chapter 20. Reconciling Different Perspectives on the Ivory Trade in China: A Case by Yufang Gao and Susan G. Clark.- Chapter 21. Changing Education to Meet Today’s and Tomorrow’s Challenges: A Case by Richard L. Wallace.- Chapter 22. Conclusion: Citizenship and Leadership in Our Challenging Times.