Environmental Health Geographies: Absorption and the “New Abnormal”

Environments and health are not what they were. They are marked by novel social, chemical, and biological configurations that are geographically extensive and uneven in terms of their effects. Materially transformed bodies, tissues, and environments generate novel interfaces, intra-actions, and new forms of absorption or body–environment relations. As a result, in recent years, health and environment have become subject to renewed attention. Starting with a review of work in mainstream environmental health geography, this article highlights recent research on material and social changes to body–environments. Focusing on biocides (including pesticides and antimicrobials) and metabolic geographies, the article emphasizes how ecological changes do not simply get under the skin; they transform ongoing forms of absorption. These transformations create a “new abnormal” for environmental health, which poses challenges for conventional forms of analysis and intervention. The article calls for research that is appropriate to the challenge of these absorptive lives.