Climate change is a growing issue the world over. In some way, the people of this planet must
become more active in dealing with global warming and other related
problems. In some ways, public health
can help with this cause and begin to put a spark under our society.
The climate and weather are intimately associated with our
health, sometimes in ways we may not think.
For instance, being from a low coastal area, I have witnessed the power
of extreme storms such as hurricanes.
With climate change, the possibility of more intense storms continues to
rise. I personally find this
terrifying. We have all seen the power
of these storms with the tragedy that was Hurricane Katrina. Imagining that happening either more often or
at a higher intensity really shakes me up with fear. We could see more casualties than our
response forces are ready to deal with.
Additionally, coming from an area where humidity is high, I have seen
the effects of heat waves and heat stress.
In fact, during band practice over the summer, I would see approximately
five people pass out from heat exhaustion a month. If the globe continues to get hotter, we can
only expect to see more of this, leading to more medical issues such as
constant dehydration. One climate and
public health issue that people may not generally think about is the affect
climate has on our mental health. After
Hurricane Katrina, we saw a nation shocked and people ripped from their
homes. To have nowhere to turn and no
hope, your mind begins to lose stability.
An unstable mind only leads to further health problems.
How can we begin to stop this climate change and increase in
health hazards? Two strategies come to
play here mitigation and adaptation.
Mitigation is more of a proactive strategy, involving efforts to
decelerate climate change or stop it altogether. Adaptation is more of preparation to be
positively reactive, involving efforts to determine problems before they arise
and have plans to deal with the problems.
Public health can work through these two strategies, mainly
working in the realm of adaptation though, in many ways to help people with
their health in this time of overwhelming climate change. In fact, one of the
most important things the public health officials can do is to inform, educate,
and empower people about health issues related to climate change. Not only is there a great disparity worldwide
as to what global climate change is, but also people seem to have no motivation
to act because they do not really see the issue developing. While the changes in climate may be slow,
they do add up and if we do not convince people of this soon, it may be too
late.
In my hometown, there does not seem to be too many practices
being put into place to deal with climate change. I have seen them giving hot weather
advisories. Also, I do see more efforts
to create public transportation to decrease the amount of emissions. I believe that a good way to deal with
climate change would be to encourage people to practice positive climate
practices, such as riding a bike or completely eliminating the use of
aerosols. Certainly, some practice needs
to be put into place before it is too late.
Wren,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog this week! I like that you addressed the fact that many people lack the motivation to prepare for climate change because they haven't seen the adverse effects of it yet. This is something that I fear also. I don't want the public to wait until it's too late to realize that Climate Change can and possibly will reek havoc on the public. I agree that with education and informing the public we can change this attitude.
Hi Wren,
ReplyDeleteI too am from a coastal state and a large portion of my state's income comes from tourism around our beaches. While we don't worry so much about hurricanes like you guys do, I feel that rising shorelines could cause my state's economy to take a hard hit.
Also, I agree with you that heat waves can be a complete nuisance because they cause health issues. As someone in band, you know how hot it can get in August during practices!
Nice job with this blog Wren! You so nicely start this post out with an overview and public health’s role in climate change. You then do a really fantastic job of outlining some of the potential effects from climate change that resonate with you most – I love that you mention mental health, which is an effect that is too often overlooked. You’re absolutely right that those who were unfortunate enough to have been involved in, or even displaced by Katrina (or any other similarly terrible event) suffered enormous losses all of which have an emotional and psychological toll. Those who are feeling down are less likely to take care of themselves in other ways. Heat stroke and dehydration are also not thought of often enough – too many of us walk around dehydrated as it is, and extreme heat will just add to that burden.
ReplyDeleteYour explanations of mitigation and adaptation are spot-on. Mitigation is more of a proactive strategy in some ways, though adaptation can also be proactive and not just reactive. For example, having respiratory medications (steroid inhalers, albuterol, for example) ready, or training medical staff in malaria recognition that they haven’t previously seen on a regular basis, are both examples of adaptation that are proactive. But you’re right in that mitigation has to be proactive, whereas adaptation could be just reactive.
Education and empowerment are two critical steps in behavior change, which in this case would be focused on decreasing climate-unfriendly practices. Do you think it’s enough?
I think that your hometown is like too many unfortunately, though it’s promising to hear that they’re trying to increase public transportation utilization. I agree that having people practice more climate-friendly actions would be a huge part of the solution, but how would you do this?
Nice job on this blog - I look forward to next week!