icture a wildfire. Bright orange flames blaze through the trees and dark puffs of smoke billow through the air. The crackling sound of the fire echoes through the forest, branches breaking and crashing into the ground. Unbearable heat emits from the blaze. An unforgettable smell permeates. From California to Turkey and Siberia to Australia, stories about the destruction from these fires are equally tragic—the loss of forests and grasslands, wildlife, and homes.
Given how far reaching these extreme weather events are, we probably all have loved ones who have felt their wrath. My aunt and uncle lost part of their California home to the Station Fire, the largest wildfire on record in Los Angeles County in 2009. Luckily, they were both safe and had insurance, but not everyone is this fortunate.
Many of the stories about wildfires also talk about their serious, long-term effect on climate. Not only is climate change exacerbating the fires (and other extreme weather events), but the burning is also accelerating climate change. It’s a viscous cycle.
But what’s maybe a footnote, if even mentioned at all, is the impact climate events, and the day-to-day destruction of the environment, has on human health. Just think about the impact of wildfires alone. Wildfires increase air pollution and can impact air quality, among other things. This can cause respiratory issues, reduced lung function, exacerbation of asthma and heart failure. Short- and long-term health issues that impact someone’s ability to work, spend time with their family and have a good quality of life.
Over the past 20 years, climate change has been the cause behind a growing number of health concerns, and underserved populations are particularly vulnerable. Half the world’s population does not have access to basic and essential health services, so these underserved, often rural, communities are getting impacted from multiple sides. Temperatures are rising, air quality is poor and pollen counts are increasing, which can lead to heart disease, respiratory illnesses, and allergies. For people without access to medical care, they have a hard time managing or treating these illnesses, which often causes them to miss work and fall deeper into poverty.
The impact of climate change can also be seen in more day-to-day situations that probably hit closer to home for most. Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide and is exacerbated by extreme weather. When your body gets too hot, it makes your heart work harder. This can cause high blood pressure and blood clots, which can trigger heart attacks and heat stroke, especially among people with underlying health conditions.
Or, pollen allergies, which have increased in frequency and severity over the last few decades due to climate change. Warmer weather and increased carbon dioxide in the environment aid the growth of pollen-producing trees, which can now grow faster and produce more pollen then earlier in the century.
We need to stop thinking about climate change in isolation and instead start thinking about it as one of the biggest threats to human health of our time. We need to reframe the conversation about protecting the environment into a conversation about protecting human lives.
How can we do this?
First, we’re making progress with more and more governments and major companies are pledging to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a shift to a net-zero emissions world. But in the International Energy Agency’s Sustainability Recovery Tracker, only about 2% of government spending to stabilize and rebuild their economies is allocated to clean energy measures. Only one-fifth of the world’s largest companies have committed to a net zero target. The concerns are consistent—costs, time, and capabilities. But, what if we flipped the conversation and made it about the people? Talk to governments about helping create resilient communities and the financial savings towards health systems. Message to companies about improved productivity and overall well-being of their workers. This could escalate the urgency to act—it’s not just about a far-off forecast, it’s about protecting our health and future-proofing humanity.
The road to carbon neutrality and net zero is long, though. Change isn’t going to happen overnight. We also need to think pragmatically about how we can help people take care of their health in the near term. The Global Self-Care Federation, supported by the World Health Organization (WHO), recently released the Self-Care Readiness Index, a tool that can help our hospitals, our healthcare systems, and our world become healthier and more sustainable. The tool explores the four key enablers of self-care, across ten countries, as a way to embed self-care as a part of the healthcare continuum and guide the creation of solutions to help people transform their personal health. Self-care can offer a lifeline to people living in communities that are impacted by climate change and don’t have access to healthcare.
Health literacy programs become essential, particularly in places where seeing a doctor is not feasible. Consider the concerted effort behind the COVID-19 hand-washing best practices. The efforts were orchestrated and simple for people to implement—so they did. There’s lots of information available, but it is not always accurate or beneficial. This needs to change. In order for people to feel empowered, they need to be confident in their ability to take the right actions.
Where do we go from here?
First, let’s build awareness of climate change as a social determinant of health so there’s more of an understanding of how climate protection and decreasing our emissions can help people live healthier lives. Then, we need to work together—private and public sectors, NGOs and civil society—to help people understand what they can do to prevent and treat these health concerns. While we can’t make sweeping environmental changes tomorrow, we can create culturally-relevant health literacy programs to help embed habits and practices and expand access to over-the-counter medications, science-based nutritional supplements, and medical devices to ensure people can get treatment simply and easily.
The climate crisis impacts every community around the world. We need to start thinking people-first if we want to drive sustained and urgent change.
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Climate Action or Human Action?
Photo via Pixabay.
November 4, 2021
What's maybe a footnote, if even mentioned at all, is the impact climate events, and the day-to-day destruction of the environment, has on human health. We need to reframe climate change as a mandate for the health of society, writes Bayer's Daniella Foster.
P
icture a wildfire. Bright orange flames blaze through the trees and dark puffs of smoke billow through the air. The crackling sound of the fire echoes through the forest, branches breaking and crashing into the ground. Unbearable heat emits from the blaze. An unforgettable smell permeates. From California to Turkey and Siberia to Australia, stories about the destruction from these fires are equally tragic—the loss of forests and grasslands, wildlife, and homes.
Given how far reaching these extreme weather events are, we probably all have loved ones who have felt their wrath. My aunt and uncle lost part of their California home to the Station Fire, the largest wildfire on record in Los Angeles County in 2009. Luckily, they were both safe and had insurance, but not everyone is this fortunate.
Many of the stories about wildfires also talk about their serious, long-term effect on climate. Not only is climate change exacerbating the fires (and other extreme weather events), but the burning is also accelerating climate change. It’s a viscous cycle.
But what’s maybe a footnote, if even mentioned at all, is the impact climate events, and the day-to-day destruction of the environment, has on human health. Just think about the impact of wildfires alone. Wildfires increase air pollution and can impact air quality, among other things. This can cause respiratory issues, reduced lung function, exacerbation of asthma and heart failure. Short- and long-term health issues that impact someone’s ability to work, spend time with their family and have a good quality of life.
Over the past 20 years, climate change has been the cause behind a growing number of health concerns, and underserved populations are particularly vulnerable. Half the world’s population does not have access to basic and essential health services, so these underserved, often rural, communities are getting impacted from multiple sides. Temperatures are rising, air quality is poor and pollen counts are increasing, which can lead to heart disease, respiratory illnesses, and allergies. For people without access to medical care, they have a hard time managing or treating these illnesses, which often causes them to miss work and fall deeper into poverty.
The impact of climate change can also be seen in more day-to-day situations that probably hit closer to home for most. Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide and is exacerbated by extreme weather. When your body gets too hot, it makes your heart work harder. This can cause high blood pressure and blood clots, which can trigger heart attacks and heat stroke, especially among people with underlying health conditions.
Or, pollen allergies, which have increased in frequency and severity over the last few decades due to climate change. Warmer weather and increased carbon dioxide in the environment aid the growth of pollen-producing trees, which can now grow faster and produce more pollen then earlier in the century.
We need to stop thinking about climate change in isolation and instead start thinking about it as one of the biggest threats to human health of our time. We need to reframe the conversation about protecting the environment into a conversation about protecting human lives.
How can we do this?
First, we’re making progress with more and more governments and major companies are pledging to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a shift to a net-zero emissions world. But in the International Energy Agency’s Sustainability Recovery Tracker, only about 2% of government spending to stabilize and rebuild their economies is allocated to clean energy measures. Only one-fifth of the world’s largest companies have committed to a net zero target. The concerns are consistent—costs, time, and capabilities. But, what if we flipped the conversation and made it about the people? Talk to governments about helping create resilient communities and the financial savings towards health systems. Message to companies about improved productivity and overall well-being of their workers. This could escalate the urgency to act—it’s not just about a far-off forecast, it’s about protecting our health and future-proofing humanity.
The road to carbon neutrality and net zero is long, though. Change isn’t going to happen overnight. We also need to think pragmatically about how we can help people take care of their health in the near term. The Global Self-Care Federation, supported by the World Health Organization (WHO), recently released the Self-Care Readiness Index, a tool that can help our hospitals, our healthcare systems, and our world become healthier and more sustainable. The tool explores the four key enablers of self-care, across ten countries, as a way to embed self-care as a part of the healthcare continuum and guide the creation of solutions to help people transform their personal health. Self-care can offer a lifeline to people living in communities that are impacted by climate change and don’t have access to healthcare.
Health literacy programs become essential, particularly in places where seeing a doctor is not feasible. Consider the concerted effort behind the COVID-19 hand-washing best practices. The efforts were orchestrated and simple for people to implement—so they did. There’s lots of information available, but it is not always accurate or beneficial. This needs to change. In order for people to feel empowered, they need to be confident in their ability to take the right actions.
Where do we go from here?
First, let’s build awareness of climate change as a social determinant of health so there’s more of an understanding of how climate protection and decreasing our emissions can help people live healthier lives. Then, we need to work together—private and public sectors, NGOs and civil society—to help people understand what they can do to prevent and treat these health concerns. While we can’t make sweeping environmental changes tomorrow, we can create culturally-relevant health literacy programs to help embed habits and practices and expand access to over-the-counter medications, science-based nutritional supplements, and medical devices to ensure people can get treatment simply and easily.
The climate crisis impacts every community around the world. We need to start thinking people-first if we want to drive sustained and urgent change.
