East Asia has undergone dramatic socioeconomic and environmental changes over the past few decades. In this talk, we will examine a few examples of how such changes may have led to unexpected human health and ecological consequences via Earth system connections. Integrating long-term datasets with Earth system modeling, for instance, we will show how land cover and climatic changes in East Asian deserts might have affected dust emissions there, thus influencing dust air quality in China and deposition onto the North Pacific Ocean, where dust provides nutrients for marine ecosystems. We will further show how dietary changes in the Chinese population, mainly in the form of higher meat consumption, might have enhanced agricultural ammonia emissions and worsened particulate matter pollution in China, thus leading to more premature deaths. We will further discuss how more sustainable dietary options and agricultural/land-use management may help alleviate some of these pressing environmental problems.