The Gap in Social Determinants of Health: Connection to Land

Social determinants of health capture a lot — but this clip names what's still missing: connection to land. In conversations with Indigenous, Pacific Islander, and Native communities, that bond runs deep, extending to salmon, to creatures, to the living world. Traditionally, land was the lifeline — food, medicine, shelter — and every Indigenous culture maintained that relationship because it was basic survival; ancestors were pragmatists who didn't persist in what served no purpose. Western modern culture has divorced people from that relationship: you go to Safeway, not foraging. It's been devalued so completely that people are numb to its absence — like losing an appendage without the phantom pain. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVtaeaNoZCQ4