My Climate Journey: Kenta Minamitani, MPH ‘23

Many have said that my path to becoming an enthusiastic advocate for climate change and health is unique. After obtaining a Juris Doctor degree in Japan from Keio Law School, I worked as a corporate lawyer in Tokyo for eight years. After my time in law, I decided to move to the States, where I earned a Master of Public Health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. When I arrived at Harvard, studying to further my expertise in law and public health was most important to me—not learning about climate change.

 However, one class shifted my perspective entirely. In Planetary Health, we learned about convergent problems between the environment and human health—including heat health, biodiversity and dilution effects, environmental refugees, and solastalgia. The impact of changes in the environment on human health is beyond anything I had imagined. I was shocked to learn the true seriousness of things I’d once taken for granted.

 Many people are interested in climate change. However, few are aware of the extent to which climate change affects their health and daily lives. Consequently, the efforts of some companies and citizens tend to be superficial—exaggerating their actions and creating misleading perceptions of their commitments to sustainability or climate change protections. These practices, known as “greenwashing,” serve to value-signal rather than solve the deeper problems at hand. I firmly believe that planetary health is a crucial concept which helps people to see climate change as “their problem,” thus taking it seriously.

 Currently, I am attending the LLM (Master of Law) degree program in Law Science and Technology at Stanford Law School. I intend to continue researching and disseminating information on planetary health, working with related institutions at both Harvard and Stanford. It’s my passion to see a difference made in our handling of environmental issues and the narratives we give to others.