climate change and mental health

Climate change and mental health

Mankind is suffering from unprecedented crisis and warming global temperature pose the biggest threat on mother earth. 

Difficult to believe? 

well current science confirms it. At present level of greenhouse gas emissions like carbon dioxide, the world will heat up by four degree Celsius by 2100.  Well we might not need to even wait for so long as cities like Mumbai will be frequently submerged by 2050 and at the same time Himalayan glaciers will also vanish.

Why 2020 will surely be one of the most memorable year?

2020 will surely be one of the most memorable year for several reasons. It is more likely than not that 2020 will be the warmest year for earth and if not the warmest the second warmest according to world climate record. The first nine months of the year saw reckless concentrations of greenhouse emissions, methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere majorly because of the human emissions for fossil fuels, agriculture and land use. Multiple degree temperature increases, global sea rise, proliferating wildfires, floods, tsunamis, draughts and hurricanes are just apparent representations of it. 

Climate change is no more an impending threat but rather a catastrophic reality all around the world today.

What is it exactly?

Climate change is the global phenomenon of climate transformation characterized by the changes in the usual climate of the planet (regarding temperature, precipitation, and wind) that are especially caused by human activities. Example, global warming. `

What was climate change five years ago?

Had you asked me about climate change five years ago? Climate change didn’t really pique my curiosity, I knew about it but it wasn’t on my radar. To me it was just an event that would happen sometime in the future and the unite nations plus the government would do something to end it. Wouldn’t they? But since then I’ve seen countless lives of people suffering from life shattering climate induced events like floods, draughts and forest fires in Himalayas, entire villages running out of water because the glacier they depended upon had shrunk leaving people helpless and hopeless. Climate change is no longer a future fear. Its no longer an impending danger. We are living through it. But to take an action we must first need to know how great the threat is. 

The physical impact of climate change may involve dehydration, heat stroke and respiratory, cardiovascular  as well as cerebrovascular diseases due to extreme exposures to heat. This is seemingly common in athletes and outdoor workers. People with low socio-economic backgrounds may also lack the access to air conditioning which increases chances to get exposed to extreme heat. Even the pregnant women, elderlies, and people with medical conditions rarely able to regulate their body temperature which increase susceptibility to extreme heat. 

It is well understood that climate change has a certain impact on our mental health. According to various mental health experts, the human manifestations of climate change are indisputable and unchangeable- affecting mental health of masses all around the world today. when we talk about the impact of climate change’s impact on our mental health, we basically divide it into two categories : geophysical impacts of climate change, when you think about geophysical impacts of climate change some of those involve increase in natural disasters like earthquakes and floods and the others that are more gradual and subtle such as increase in sea level, increase in average temperature and changing patterns of precipitations. 

Its not very surprising to us that natural disasters are linked to our mental health. Not every natural disaster but the rate of them increases with climate change. Natural disasters due to climate change have been linked post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd), anxiety, depression (mainly major depressive disorder), suicide, community and social wellbeing.

A lot of researches particularly from Australia focused on how the mental health was influenced from climate induced natural disasters, mainly how people were affected by draught. A lot of sadness and anxiety was associated with the loss and damage to their familiar environment. The food insecurity, weakened infrastructure too put a great burden on mental health as well.  It was also found  that post traumatic disorder (ptsd) can be triggered by climate change. It was observed that while being rescued after the draught in Australia, children begin crying when they were given water. Substance abuse, grief, recovery fatigue, survivor guilt and suicidal ideation can be potentially linked with climate change. 

Some evidence suggests that  rise in temperature is associated with increased amounts of aggressive behaviour. This aggressive behaviour isn’t only directed outwardly like hitting another person or a fit or a road rage but also inwardly thus, the increase in suicide rate. There is precise data about the link between aggression and increased temperature and rainfall with each standard deviation we can expect 4% increase in conflict between individuals and 14% increase in conflicts between groups. These findings are valid for all ethnicities and regions which means more murders, suicides and assaults. 

Air pollution affects our olfactory nerves causing neuroinflammation linked to multiple mental and neurological problems. Cognitive decline in all age groups including Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease. It is also linked to autism and other psychiatric disorders. 

The American psychological association reports that the children who are exposed to the air pollutants are more likely to have anxiety and depression. Emergency room visits for panic attacks and threats to commit suicide are to be higher on the days with poor air quality. A lot of literature suggests that children are most susceptible to climate anxiety. Increased exposure to carbon dioxide has significant impact on our cognitive functioning. People are who’re severely exposed to carbon dioxide show declined abilities to think strategically and respond to a crisis.

Mental health crisis and trauma due to climate change is most profoundly damaging and drives systemic emotional conditions that society will find difficult to treat in surmount. We must think about it, the balance it with the need to have data and with the need to connect emotionally because emotional connection is at the heart of what moves people to action. An action that can improve our condition lives.  Resilience among all of us must be build and steps to preserve climate must be taken seriously. Our future generations depends on us. What we do today will reflect tomorrow. So think calmly yet wisely!