By: Leah Sarah Peer
With higher temperatures, more intense storms, and lengthy droughts—all of which can deeply affect the health of children, the climate crisis is not just an environmental issue, but a public health one too. Today, children, adolescents, and youth will face around three times as many climate disasters as their grandparents, making climate change an intergenerational equity issue among the top concerns of young Canadians.
Although climate change poses unprecedented risks to the health and welfare of all populations, the distribution of these impacts and related health risks are not uniform. Seniors, children, racialized persons, low-income families, individuals with chronic health conditions, and Indigenous Peoples often experience greater health impacts of climate change. These stem from the existing health inequities and variations in the status of determinants of health, an individual’s sensitivity from pre-existing health conditions, as well as their exposure to specific geographic locations or climate hazards.
Warmer temperatures can allow insects such as the blacklegged tick, which carries Lyme disease and mosquitoes that carry dengue, malaria, and zika to live in places where they couldn’t in the past. Through contaminated water and food, diseases may be on the rise due to heavier rainfall that comes with climate change. When irrigation is limited or harsh floods arise, there are outbreaks of diarrhea which can be dangerous to children.
Maternal exposure to air pollutants during pregnancy makes fetuses biologically and psychologically vulnerable and increases the likelihood of developmental abnormalities such as intrauterine growth retardation, low birth weight, prematurity, and congenital malformations. Protection during these early windows of development is essential as most of the 86 billion neurons of the brain are formed during the prenatal period, and the brain, lungs, and immune system are still developing during infancy through age 6 years and beyond. With little space to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide in their lungs, children increase their exposure to dangerous air pollutants that cause oxidative stress and inflammation. As a result, there is an exacerbation of asthma attacks and allergies each year with thousands prematurely dying from lower respiratory infections. Healthcare workers must understand air quality recommendations relevant to their patients, their social determinants of health and provide appropriate guidance based upon them.
Climate change also has the capability of disrupting important pipelines and infrastructures. It destabilizes food systems, limits access to food and worsens food insecurity. Extreme weather events cause agricultural losses including damage to crops, harm to livestock and disruption to food distribution supply chains. If climate change reduces the amount of food produced, then it also reduces the amount of food people can access. If one part of the food chain is interrupted due to climate change, there is inflation. With spikes in the prices of food, it leaves the poorest unable to afford to feed their families, causing “hungry seasons” as the next crops are not ready to be picked out. Thus, the link between hunger and malnutrition is evident, as they are issues of both quality and quantity. If crops have lower levels of essential nutrients such as iron, zinc and protein when grown under higher carbon dioxide concentrations, it raises concern as there is increasing risk that populations will suffer from micronutrient deficiencies. By 2050, 175 million people are expected to be zinc deficient and an additional 122 million people to be protein deficient. While some physicians already routinely screen for this social determinant of health, all health professionals must screen for food insecurity and take proactive measures to prevent hunger when acute shocks to the food system, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, arise. Providing referrals to food banks, or food coupons to purchase groceries from the market will mitigate some of the challenges faced by patients.
A recent Ipsos study on behalf of the Canadian Youth Alliance for Climate Action (CYACA) reported that largely negative emotions are associated with climate change, including fearing for themselves, their children and future generations with deep feelings of hopelessness and anger. The destruction of biodiversity, the extinction of animals and arctic ice melting evoke responses of anxiety and depression. Eco-anxiety is a term used to define the distress caused by climate change where people are anxious about their future.
For children, adolescents and youth, this is a crippling reality as climate change increases the odds that they will experience protracted disruption of routines and psychological trauma. After Hurricane Katrina, approximately 85% of 372,000 displaced children had not returned home, faced persistent emotional and behavioral challenges, gaps in schooling, and challenges accessing pediatric care. Health professionals must understand the mental health consequences of displacement in order to screen for them, and support trauma-informed care for locally and globally displaced climate migrants.
Furthermore, Indigenous peoples are among those most acutely experiencing the mental health impacts of climate change as it contributes to the disruption and denigration of their cultures, knowledge and ways of life. In many Indigenous communities, climate change has affected the availability and quality of fresh water, traditional foods and key resources that affect the emotional, mental and spiritual health and well-being of Indigenous peoples. More opportunities to fund the First Nations and Inuit communities' efforts to identify, assess, and respond to the health impacts of climate change must be created. The Climate Change and Health Adaptation Program by the Canadian government is a step in the right direction but more action is needed to reduce pollution, to adapt to the new era of climate change, and the ways in which the natural environment may be respected and protected.
When it comes to the political sphere, the Ipsos study by the CYACA indicates that six in ten (62%) young Canadians agree that Canada has an obligation to lead globally on climate change. Domestically, half (51%) based their 2021 election vote on climate platforms. While satisfaction is low across the board, Canadian youth are least satisfied with what governments have been doing to address climate change. They show strongest satisfaction towards their own generation and non-governmental organization (NGO)s. Canadian youth indicate they themselves are most capable of making progress (79%) on climate in the next five years, followed closely by the NGO sector (78%). Reflecting on some of the pessimistic attitudes observed earlier, while two-thirds (67%) of Canadian youth agree that climate change will negatively impact their future, less than half are optimistic that a solution will be found in their lifetime.
Given that more than one-third of the existing global burden of disease is caused by environmental factors, there is an urgency for strong action. Children deserve every opportunity to reach their full potential, but climate change puts their health and well-being at risk. This is especially true for underserved communities whose health and socioeconomic surroundings may already be vulnerable. With temperatures rising and weather patterns evolving, the spread of vector-borne diseases, harmful air pollutants, and food insecurity will continue to affect our health too. If we are to reduce the effects of climate change, it is necessary that all individuals and communities recognize the connections and incorporate information on the health benefits of climate mitigation into their decision-making, so we can better care for children, and craft a sustainable future for humanity.
Leah Sarah Peer is a medical student at Saint James School of Medicine in Chicago, USA. She holds a Bachelor of Science with a Specialization in Biology and a Minor in Human Rights from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. Mingling her passion for medicine with her human rights endeavors, Leah aspires to serve humanity beyond the bounds of medical knowledge.