Is almost everyone on the planet now aware of climate change? If so, how are climate change and its causes impacting our health and wellbeing? What are the causal chains of the harms it does to us? What can you do to minimise its impact and protect yourself from its physical and mental health harms?
Around 90% of the population in developed countries is aware of the reality of climate change. As the damage to the planet is increasing every day, so is the harm, and the risk of harm, to our mental and physical health. In previous articles, we have explored the psychology of climate change denial and the psychology of acting too late.
Climate change harm can be done to us either directly, indirectly, and in some cases both directly and indirectly from the same cause.
- Direct harm. When we are exposed to extreme weather events, floods, droughts, wildfires, hurricanes, and pollutants, we can be directly harmed.
- Indirect harm. Those same factors can impact us economically, socially, and psychologically.
Being more specific, here are just some of the harms from climate change.
Physical health impacts
Heat
Humans are susceptible to heat-related illness and adverse effects: heat exhaustion and heatstroke. Warm air is thinner, contains less oxygen for any given volume, and has higher levels of ground-level ozone, all of which can have life-threatening effects on people with respiratory problems. The ill, the elderly, and young children are most vulnerable to heat extremes.
Diseases
Higher temperatures are a boon to infectious diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, West Nile virus, Zika virus, cholera, typhoid, foodborne bacteria, Lyme disease, and various forms of fungal infection.
Air pollutants
These are among the many elements that are both causal and a consequence of the factors driving climate change. They also harm our health directly. Methane, which is both a greenhouse gas and a lung irritant, is released in vast quantities across the globe as a result of higher temperatures. It is estimated that methane, from meat production alone, accounts for 12% of all greenhouse gases emitted every year.
Also created from agricultural activity is nitrogen oxide. It has a positive radiative forcing effect, meaning that it contributes about 6% of the global warming. Nitrous oxide is produced as fertilisers are broken down by bacteria in an anaerobic (without oxygen) process that converts nitrate ions into nitrous oxide. Nitrous oxide, too, is a respiratory irritant and contributes to acid rain. Acid rain is known to reduce the pH of water, making a better environment for multiple water-borne diseases.
Food and water availability
Global warming has had, and continues to have, an adverse effect on crop production. Yes, in some parts of the world, in the colder climates, foods that could not previously be grown now can be. However, in much larger areas, the increased temperature has made pests more likely to survive and present a food production problem. It will go without saying that food shortages cause malnutrition and conflict. Equally, where water is no longer plentiful, dehydration, water-borne diseases, and water-based conflict are on the increase.
Particulate matter
Many particulates from human-generated pollution are known to be harmful, entering the body and brain through the lungs and distributed via our blood system. Particulate matter is known to cause or contribute to a wide range of illnesses, including heart disease and other cardiac problems, strokes, lung cancer, various respiratory infections, including asthma, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases), pneumonia, and chronic bronchitis. Particulates are also strongly implicated in cognitive decline from diseases such as Alzheimer’s and SVD (small vessel disease – the primary cause of vascular dementia).
Psychological health impacts
Rarely do physical harms go without also causing psychological harm. Most of us can imagine what war induced by a food or water shortage would do to the mental health of any population.
Trauma and stress
Those who are directly or indirectly exposed to or witness ecological disasters caused by climate change are highly likely to be traumatised by it. The provision of mental health assistance is becoming more necessary in the aftermath of climate disasters. The posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety induced can last for years, or even a lifetime in the worst cases. I visited an island in the Caribbean (on a lecture tour), and years after the most devasting hurricane ever to have struck, the psychological damage had cascaded down the generations.
Displacement and seeking climate refuge
People forced into climate-induced displacement and migration can suffer a range of mental health challenges. Imagine what it must be like to be forced to leave behind everything you knew because of rising sea levels or desertification. To be forced to flee a non-viable existence and face uncertainty, not being able to speak the new language, identity loss, and being a cultural outsider creates massive levels of grief and mourning compounded by stress and anxiety.
Eco-anxiety, eco-guilt, eco-depression, and eco-grief
With the ever-increasing awareness of the damage that we are doing to the planet and the impact that will have on us and on our genetic successors, it is not surprising that more and more people are suffering eco-anxiety, guilt, and grief. While there are not yet any reliable figures available for the incidence of eco-induced emotional disturbance, it seems to be much more prevalent among the young and the environmentally aware. From a personal perspective, I have to confess to experiencing eco-guilt any time I travel by means powered by fossil fuels and when I have to switch on my gas-powered central heating in October each year. Each time I switch on a light, I ask myself if I really need it. A few years ago, when visiting Iceland, I saw evidence, firsthand, of the rate at which the glaciers are melting, and still feel an emotional reaction when I think about what I saw. How do you experience eco-anxiety, eco-guilt, eco-depression, and eco-grief?
How can you reduce climate impact and protect your health?
One option is to go into denial or seek to undermine the overwhelming evidence in order to make yourself feel better. Of course, that won’t prevent what is happening. In fact, that will make climate change worse as you take no action to stop the harm.
Reduce your carbon footprint. A range of simple actions can make a difference. Here are just a few:
- Take public transport like buses or trains rather than driving.
- Use energy-efficient lighting.
- Insulate your home for effective temperature control.
- Conserve water wherever possible.
- Recycle as much as you can.
- Add more plants to your living space (they absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen).
- Opt for showers over baths.
- Batch your cleaning and washing.
- Reuse greywater for watering your garden or plants.
- Donate old clothes to charity instead of discarding them.
- Buy second-hand goods when possible.
- Reduce your meat consumption.
- Choose locally produced fruits and vegetables to minimise transport emissions.
- Share tools and equipment with neighbours and friends (such as one lawnmower between several homes).
- Use ride-sharing services to travel.
The great thing about many steps we can take to protect the planet is that they save money, too – money you could put toward solar panels, a home wind turbine, a water butt, or any other eco-friendly, planet-saving items.
Doing what you can will make a difference and leave you feeling satisfied about making the right choices.
Professor Nigel MacLennan runs the performance coaching practice PsyPerform.
