Biodiversity, Physical Health and Climate Change: A Synthesis of Recent Evidence

The connection between mental health and weather extremes is a public health concern, but less studied to date than physical health. This exploratory study examines the mental health impacts of two kinds of weather extremes increasingly linked to climate change—summer heat waves and extreme winter weather—in a low- to middle-income population in the Southeastern U.S. The distribution of mental health impacts, and potential pathways to them, are examined with a focus on race. Data are from a random-sample survey of 426 participants and are analyzed with bivariate statistics and path analysis. Self-reported mental health impacts, in both seasons, were common in our study, with White participants tending to report worse impacts than participants who identified with other racial groups. Physical health had direct effects on mental health across several models, overall and by racial group. For summer heat waves, concern about climate change and social cohesion had direct and indirect effects, respectively, on mental health in White participants only. For extreme winter weather, preparedness had a direct negative effect on mental health in White, but not Black, participants. Results suggest that there may be racial differences in the influence of human and social capital factors on mental health related to weather extremes, warranting further study of this critical topic and with larger racial subgroup samples.

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Unequal effects of climate change and pre-existing inequalities on the mental health of global populations

BJPsych Bulletin ◽

10.1192/bjb.2021.26 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-5

Author(s):

Shuo Zhang ◽

Isobel Braithwaite ◽

Vishal Bhavsar ◽

Jayati Das-Munshi

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Mental Health ◽

Physical Health ◽

Health Inequalities ◽

Scientific Understanding ◽

Climate Justice ◽

Vital Part ◽

Structural Mechanisms ◽

Mental And Physical Health

Summary Climate change is already having unequal effects on the mental health of individuals and communities and will increasingly compound pre-existing mental health inequalities globally. Psychiatrists have a vital part to play in improving both awareness and scientific understanding of structural mechanisms that perpetuate these inequalities, and in responding to global calls for action to promote climate justice and resilience, which are central foundations for good mental and physical health.

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The Importance of Teaching Activity in the Process of Cognitive Processing

HOLISTICA – Journal of Business and Public Administration ◽

10.2478/hjbpa-2020-0013 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 146-154

Author(s):

Ana-Georgiana Călugărescu

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Mental Health ◽

Young People ◽

Physical Health ◽

Cognitive Processing ◽

New Technologies ◽

Teaching Activity ◽

Mental Health Awareness ◽

Communicative Act ◽

Very High

AbstractMost young people have to adapt to society. More and more students have gaps in the communicative act, no real conditions about material or spiritual are known. More serious is that it is a very high percentage while it is dedicated to new technologies, while allocated it is being recreated in nature being increasingly reduced, reaching the final young people having problems adapting the place where they are in society. Building a connection between education and the environment, strengthening the connections between people and the influence of nature can have the physical health of the person but also mental health. Awareness of climate change for the last period and the desire for an opera can use phenomena that can be protected from the natural desert, produced more and more often.

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The Impact of Climate Change on the Prevalence of Mental Illness Symptoms

10.1101/2021.08.06.21261722 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Molly Monsour ◽

Emily Clarke-Rubright ◽

Wil Lieberman-Cribbin ◽

Christopher Timmins ◽

Emanuela Taioli ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Mental Health ◽

Mental Illness ◽

Physical Health ◽

Local Governments ◽

Impact Of Climate Change ◽

Inundation Mapping ◽

Symptom Prevalence ◽

State And Local ◽

The Impact

Background: The repercussions of climate change threaten the population with an increased prevalence of extreme climate events. We explored the impact of climate change induced sea level rise (SLR) and tropical cyclone (TC) exposure on mental illness symptom prevalence. Methods Using three datasets, TC exposure scores were calculated for each subject to determine how exposure affects posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and major depressive disorder (MDD) symptom prevalence. Inundation mapping of various SLR and storm surge (SS) scenarios were performed for the susceptible region of Miami-Dade and Broward counties to determine the population impact of flooding. Results: We found an elevated risk of mental illness symptoms from exposure to more high- intensity TCs and identified demographic variables that may contribute to this risk. Furthermore, inundation mapping demonstrated severe and widespread impact of SLR and SS on the mental health of communities. Limitations: This study did not include data directly measuring comorbidity, resilience, preparedness, or ability to adapt to climate change. Also, multiple imputation using chained equations may have been imperfect. Finally, when conducting inundation mapping, static mapping may overestimate flooding severity. Conclusion: The impacts of climate change have been frequently studied in terms of physical health, natural disaster prevalence, and economic impacts, but rarely on mental health burden. However, it is vital that national, state, and local governments develop and deploy plans to address mental health needs along with expenditures for protecting infrastructure, the economy, and physical health from the combined effects of SLR and climate change-induced natural disasters.

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Dirofilariosis in humans and animals: Two faces of one disease

Postępy Higieny i Medycyny Doświadczalnej ◽

10.5604/01.3001.0013.0842 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 73 ◽

pp. 109-116

Author(s):

Aleksandra Lewandowicz-Uszyńska ◽

Wojciech Borawski ◽

Gerard Pasternak

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Physical Health ◽

Companion Animals ◽

Complex Treatment ◽

Parasite Invasion ◽

Positive Effects ◽

Human Parasite ◽

Accidental Host ◽

Near Future ◽

Mental And Physical Health

Today, when animals have become family members, thus bringing a whole spectrum of positive effects on both the mental and physical health of people, the more we must bear in mind the potential hazards arising from such a relationship in order to make possessing companion animals both pleasant and safe. One such threat is undoubtedly dirofilariosis. Dirofilariosis is a parasitic zoonosis caused by the invasion of mosquito-borne nematodes of the genus Dirofilaria. Man is an accidental host of the parasite. Although dirofilariosis is considered to be an endemic disease of Mediterranean and US origin, which rarely affects humans, the increasing number of diagnosed cases in animals in Poland may in the near future result in frequent invasion of the parasite also in humans in our country. Frequent animal movements as well as the presence in Poland of mosquitoes capable, as a result of climate change, of carrying the pathogen seem to confirm this thesis. Clinical displays of human parasite invasion are mostly pulmonary, subcutaneous and ocular forms, as well as some others, which occur less frequently. Appropriate prophylaxis in animals, as well as the complex treatment of existing invasion, provides both animals and humans with security and comfort of life.

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Averting robo-bees: why free-flying robotic bees are a bad idea

Emerging Topics in Life Sciences ◽

10.1042/etls20190063 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (6) ◽

pp. 723-729

Author(s):

Roslyn Gleadow ◽

Jim Hanan ◽

Alan Dorin

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Computer Simulation ◽

Food Security ◽

European Countries ◽

Plant Interactions ◽

Plant Insect Interactions ◽

Native Habitat ◽

Insect Pollinators ◽

Insect Interactions

Food security and the sustainability of native ecosystems depends on plant-insect interactions in countless ways. Recently reported rapid and immense declines in insect numbers due to climate change, the use of pesticides and herbicides, the introduction of agricultural monocultures, and the destruction of insect native habitat, are all potential contributors to this grave situation. Some researchers are working towards a future where natural insect pollinators might be replaced with free-flying robotic bees, an ecologically problematic proposal. We argue instead that creating environments that are friendly to bees and exploring the use of other species for pollination and bio-control, particularly in non-European countries, are more ecologically sound approaches. The computer simulation of insect-plant interactions is a far more measured application of technology that may assist in managing, or averting, ‘Insect Armageddon' from both practical and ethical viewpoints.

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Modelling ecosystem adaptation and dangerous rates of global warming

Emerging Topics in Life Sciences ◽

10.1042/etls20180113 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 221-231 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Rebecca Millington ◽

Peter M. Cox ◽

Jonathan R. Moore ◽

Gabriel Yvon-Durocher

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Global Warming ◽

Diffusion Rate ◽

Individual Species ◽

Genetic Evolution ◽

Rates Of Change ◽

Rapid Climate Change ◽

Warming Climate ◽

Intraspecies Competition ◽

High Trait

Abstract We are in a period of relatively rapid climate change. This poses challenges for individual species and threatens the ecosystem services that humanity relies upon. Temperature is a key stressor. In a warming climate, individual organisms may be able to shift their thermal optima through phenotypic plasticity. However, such plasticity is unlikely to be sufficient over the coming centuries. Resilience to warming will also depend on how fast the distribution of traits that define a species can adapt through other methods, in particular through redistribution of the abundance of variants within the population and through genetic evolution. In this paper, we use a simple theoretical ‘trait diffusion’ model to explore how the resilience of a given species to climate change depends on the initial trait diversity (biodiversity), the trait diffusion rate (mutation rate), and the lifetime of the organism. We estimate theoretical dangerous rates of continuous global warming that would exceed the ability of a species to adapt through trait diffusion, and therefore lead to a collapse in the overall productivity of the species. As the rate of adaptation through intraspecies competition and genetic evolution decreases with species lifetime, we find critical rates of change that also depend fundamentally on lifetime. Dangerous rates of warming vary from 1°C per lifetime (at low trait diffusion rate) to 8°C per lifetime (at high trait diffusion rate). We conclude that rapid climate change is liable to favour short-lived organisms (e.g. microbes) rather than longer-lived organisms (e.g. trees).

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