2024-03-24 19:16:34
EDMONTON — Bodies are just as affected by climate change as sea ice and forests, says University of Alberta scientist Sherilee Harper.
“Climate change impacts everything we worry about,” she says. It’s not just an environmental issue.”
This is why Professor Harper and around thirty of her colleagues from disciplines ranging from economics to epidemiology have come together so that climate change is better perceived as a threat to human health.
“This university center aims to help make the population understand that each decision on the subject of climate change is a decision linked to health,” underlines the woman who is also one of the vice-presidents of the Intergovernmental Panel on Evolution of the climate, one of the world leaders on the issue.
“Every climate change research project has health implications,” she adds.
She cites the example of cycle paths.
For municipal officials, cycle paths are a way to reduce gas emissions from motor vehicles, but they also help improve people’s health.
“Transforming climate change into a health issue would add significant weight to the balance,” underlines Professor Harper. Research shows that when a problem is linked to a public health issue, it leads to more action than if it is linked to an environmental or economic issue.
Canada is warming twice as fast as the global average. And plenty of research has already shown that rising temperatures increase health problems.
In 2022, the Public Health Agency of Canada wrote in a report that “climate change [constituaient] the greatest threat to health in Canada and around the world.
Due to forest fires, air quality in Canada was among the worst in the world last summer. Respiratory problems, particularly in children, Lyme disease and West Nile virus are spreading more quickly as the parasites proliferate in their new habitat. Diarrhea is more common because the water, as it warms, welcomes more bacteria.
Climate change also has repercussions on mental health: acute stress disorder, omnipresent feeling of loss or mourning. Often, the effects on physical health and mental health combine.
Threats to public health also exist on a global scale.
The World Health Organization predicts that from 2030 to 2050, climate change will cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths annually from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea and heat stress.
The University of Alberta will officially announce the creation of the Climate Change and Health Hub on Tuesday. Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam is expected to attend. For now, the hub will primarily be a network of First Nations researchers, students and knowledge keepers who believe interdisciplinary collaboration is necessary and who want to exchange ideas and research.
Such centers already exist in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, mentions Professor Harper.
The center also intends to assert its presence in public debate.
“We think it’s really important to have a center that, during this period of misinformation, can mobilize knowledgeable resources. We need to provide evidence so that politicians make decisions based on evidence.”
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