Why climate change is a public health issue | One Earth

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Climate Change

Climate change poses significant threats to public health around the world. Rising temperatures, extreme weather events, poor air quality, and other impacts of climate change directly harm human health.

Second, Climate change exacerbates existing health inequalities between wealthier and poorer communities and can contribute to new health risks, including the outbreak of novel diseases like COVID-19.

Third, the steady drumbeat of troubling information about climate impacts, which some call climate doomerism, is creating a mental health epidemic, especially amongst young people.

We’ll dive into these three main types of health impacts and discuss why we need to start treating the climate crisis like a public health crisis.

Physical health impacts

Some of the most direct effects of climate change on physical health stem from higher temperatures, degraded air quality, and extreme weather events.

Heat-related illness

Higher temperatures and more frequent, intense heat waves lead to heat-related illnesses such as heat stroke, exhaustion, cramps, and rashes. These conditions can be severe or even fatal. Infants, young children, older adults, outdoor workers, and people with existing medical conditions are especially vulnerable to heat effects. But heat waves can harm anyone by pushing the body beyond its limits for temperature regulation. As climate change accelerates, heat-related hospitalizations and deaths are projected to increase.

Deteriorating air quality

Climate change worsens air quality by increasing ground-level ozone (a component of smog), pollen, and wildfire smoke. This leads to respiratory and cardiovascular problems, including asthma attacks, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations, heart attacks, strokes, and premature death.

Air pollution disproportionately affects marginalized populations who are more likely to live near sources of pollution. Children are notably more vulnerable to air pollution’s harmful health effects.

The World Health Organization has found that the combined effects of ambient air pollution and household air pollution are associated with 6.7 million premature deaths per year.

Injuries and fatalities from extreme weather

Extreme weather events amplified by climate change, such as hurricanes, floods, and wildfires, directly threaten health through drowning, trauma, burns, smoke inhalation, displacement of populations, and damage to healthcare infrastructure.

The science is clear—climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of extreme weather. This elevates risks to life and health when these disasters occur.

Infectious diseases

Climate change is expected to alter the geographic range, seasonality, and spread of many infectious diseases. Warming temperatures allow disease-carrying mosquitoes, ticks, and other vectors to thrive in new regions.

Changing precipitation patterns can increase the spread of water-borne illnesses. Severe weather events and disrupted ecosystems can spur outbreaks as populations are displaced, and pathogens proliferate.

Climate change has expanded the reach of vector-borne diseases like Lyme, West Nile, and Zika. In the future, continued warming could increase the burden of malaria, dengue fever, chikungunya, and other illnesses.

Food and water insecurity

Climate change threatens crop yields, animal populations, and access to safe drinking water. This increases risks for malnutrition and food- and water-borne infections. Droughts, floods, and changes in seasonal weather patterns make it harder for communities to reliably produce and access sufficient nutritious food and clean water.

This issue disproportionately impacts poorer populations already struggling with hunger and inadequate sanitation. Food and water insecurity due to climate change can impair physical health and affect mental health.

Unequal health impacts

The health effects of climate change disproportionately affect marginalized groups with fewer resources to mitigate risks or recover from impacts.

• Low-income communities tend to face more exposure to extreme heat, flooding, and pollution. They may lack access to air conditioning, quality healthcare, or insurance to rebuild after disasters.
• Communities of color are disproportionately exposed to toxic air pollution from the fossil fuel industry. Data also shows a higher incidence of asthma, heart disease, and premature death in areas with more environmental pollution.
• Elderly, young, pregnant, and disabled individuals have physiological vulnerabilities that amplify climate health risks.
• Outdoor workers have greater exposure to heat, air pollution, vectors, and extreme weather that endangers health. Many outdoor workers are from socioeconomically disadvantaged communities.
• Indigenous populations and rural communities often directly depend on threatened natural resources and ecosystems for survival and culture. Climate impacts on fisheries, agricultural land, and water access undermine health.
• Mental, physical, and chemical dependence can impede an individual’s ability to protect themselves from climate threats. Homeless populations are especially vulnerable to a warming climate.

Climate change also contributes to displacement and forced migration through impacts like desertification, rising sea levels, erosion, droughts, and extreme weather. Sudden or gradual environmental changes can make homelands uninhabitable. By 2050, over 200 million people may be displaced by climate impacts.

Population displacement creates crowded conditions conducive to disease transmission. It also harms mental health through trauma, loss of home, and loss of social networks and identity. Environmental migrants often face discrimination and barriers to healthcare access as well.

Climate change also indirectly affects well-being by exacerbating health disparities and stress. Despite contributing the least to carbon emissions, marginalized groups worldwide face an unjust climate burden. Climate change amplifies existing health disparities and creates new health equity issues as risks intensify.

In these ways, the environmental shifts caused by climate change directly threaten human health via higher temperatures, degraded air and water, extreme weather, shifting disease patterns, food insecurity, and displacement of populations.

Public health organizations should work to identify populations vulnerable to climate impacts and then allocate resources accordingly to help increase resilience and adaptive capacity where it’s needed most.

Mental health impacts

Climate change doesn’t just harm physical health—it also extracts a toll on mental health. The psychological responses to climate impacts include:

Eco-anxiety and grief

Witnessing ecological destruction and loss firsthand (or through media) can cause clinically significant anxiety, depression, PTSD, and adjustment disorders. Young people report high rates of eco-anxiety over the fear of inheriting a damaged planet.

Existential distress over the loss of biodiversity, natural landscapes, and the

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

The issues highlighted in the article are connected to the following SDGs:

• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
• SDG 13: Climate Action
• SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

Based on the article’s content, the following specific targets can be identified:

• Target 3.9: By 2030, substantially reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicals and air, water, and soil pollution and contamination (under SDG 3)
• Target 10.2: By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic, and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion, or economic or other status (under SDG 10)
• Target 13.1: Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries (under SDG 13)
• Target 16.7: Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory, and representative decision-making at all levels (under SDG 16)

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

Yes, there are indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets:

• Hospitalizations and deaths related to heat waves
• Premature deaths associated with air pollution
• Increase in vector-borne diseases
• Disproportionate exposure to extreme heat, flooding, and pollution among low-income communities
• Higher incidence of asthma, heart disease, and premature death in areas with more environmental pollution among communities of color
• Vulnerabilities of elderly, young, pregnant, and disabled individuals to climate health risks
• Increase in extreme weather events and their impacts on health
• Spread of infectious diseases due to climate change
• Threats to food and water security
• Addressing health disparities and stress caused by climate change
• Ensuring access to counseling and community programs for mental health support

4. Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators