Putting the capital "E" environment into ecological models of health

The recent public health reawakening to the role of the built environment has largely excluded consideration of the natural environment. This exclusion is despite the fact that land conservation, or green infrastructure, supports the most fundamental human needs and healthy lifestyles. Although the contemporary public health paradigm acknowledges the environment as an important construct in an "ecological" approach to health, environmental protection is not commonly viewed as an upstream approach to preventing disease. This guest commentary suggests that environmental health research and practice should consider green infrastructure as germane to a healthy human environment.