The health effects of climate change

Re: “Saying planet’s future is at stake, 50,000 gather for climate march” (Montreal Gazette, Nov. 12)

It is heartening to see the gathering of forces, as in this past weekend’s march in downtown Montreal for climate action. Is this a crack appearing through which the light of scientific reasoning is finally penetrating? I am hopeful that it is, as the realization hits that climate change is not a distant abstract threat, but something that is already having direct effects on our daily lives. As the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change tells us, the health effects are already evident and will only increase as the planet warms. Deaths from extreme heat make headlines, but more subtle are the chronic health effects: asthma, heart disease, diabetes, allergies, infectious diseases — all exacerbated by climate change. Lyme disease, West Nile, and other vector-born diseases are creeping north, and extreme weather events and flooding bring mental stress, depression and PTSD. Responsibility for mitigation and adaptation to health effects should not lie exclusively with politicians, but from all of us, including the health sector at large. Increased health effects bring increased demand for well-educated health professionals who can play crucial roles in teaching about health challenges arising from climate, and in influencing public policy at all levels. As the Lancet Commission has stated, action on climate brings multiple co-benefits to health, and significant cost savings to budgets, including that of health care. The more that we all understand that climate change has profound implications for human health and thriving, and that we must harness the health sector as an essential participant in the discourse on action and adaptation, the better our chances for confronting the greatest challenge of our times. Fiona Hanley, RN, MSc., nursing faculty, Dawson College, Montreal