An Exploration of the Mental Health Consequences of Climate Change and Adaptation Opportunities

Abstract:

In this session we’ll explore the mental health consequences of climate change, looking at the range of psychosocial outcomes related to acute and slow-creeping hazards. We’ll focus specifically on the emerging empirical connections amongst climate-related air pollution and extreme heat events on mood and behavioural disorders. We’ll also look more broadly at the risks and impacts of climate change on community health and wellbeing addressing issues of resource scarcity, conflict, displacement and migration. We’ll also discuss the research challenges of empirical investigations of mental health and climate change and we’ll highlight research opportunities to address key knowledge gaps.In this session we’ll highlight the emerging literature on ecoanxiety and the emotional and behavioural consequences of our experiences with climate change writ large. We’ll conclude with a discussion of macro and micro-level factors that support psychosocial adaptation in a changing climate and opportunities for interdisciplinary actions to enhance mental health systems resilience. This session presents some of the key findings from the Mental Health and Wellbeing chapter in the forthcoming Health of Canadians in a Changing Climate Report due out in 2021. Participants will also learn about the HealthADAPT program, a Federal program led by Health Canada that that supports the human health and well-being objectives of the Pan Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change, and discuss how some HealthADAPT partners are addressing the mental health consequences of climate change in their project work.