Ontario environment plan inadequate and incomplete, won’t help protect Ontarians from health and safety effects of climate change

Abstract. A warming climate has been linked to an increase in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, including heat and cold waves, extreme precipitation, and wildfires. This increase in extreme weather results in increased risks to the health and safety of farmworkers. Keywords: Climate change, Extreme weather, Farmworkers, Global warming, Health and safety.

Download Full-text

Telling the boiling frog what he needs to know: why climate change risks should be plotted as probability over time

Geoscience Communication ◽

10.5194/gc-2-95-2019 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 95-100 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Simon Sharpe

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

First Principles ◽

Scientific Community ◽

Health And Safety ◽

Climate Science ◽

Decision Makers ◽

Intergovernmental Panel ◽

Climate Change Risks ◽

Science Community ◽

Over Time

Abstract. Humanity's situation with respect to climate change is sometimes compared to that of a frog in a slowly boiling pot of water, meaning that change will happen too gradually for us to appreciate the likelihood of catastrophe and act before it is too late. I argue that the scientific community is not yet telling the boiling frog what he needs to know. I use a review of the figures included in two reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to show that much of the climate science communicated to policymakers is presented in the form of projections of what is most likely to occur, as a function of time (equivalent to the following statement: in 5 min time, the water you are sitting in will be 2 ∘C warmer). I argue from first principles that a more appropriate means of assessing and communicating the risks of climate change would be to produce assessments of the likelihood of crossing non-arbitrary thresholds of impact, as a function of time (equivalent to the following statement: the probability of you being boiled to death will be 1 % in 5 min time, rising to 100 % in 20 min time if you do not jump out of the pot). This would be consistent with approaches to risk assessment in fields such as insurance, engineering, and health and safety. Importantly, it would ensure that decision makers are informed of the biggest risks and hence of the strongest reasons to act. I suggest ways in which the science community could contribute to promoting this approach, taking into account its inherent need for cross-disciplinary research and for engagement with decision makers before the research is conducted instead of afterwards.

Download Full-text

Visible information on health and safety effects from building materials in adaptation activities

2014 3rd International Conference on User Science and Engineering (i-USEr) ◽

10.1109/iuser.2014.7002716 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Zarina Isnin ◽

Sabarinah Sh Ahmad ◽

Zaharah Yahya ◽

Mustapha Mohd Salleh

Keyword(s):

Building Materials ◽

Health And Safety ◽

Health And Safety Effects

Download Full-text

Climate Change and Schools: Implications for Children's Health and Safety

Creative Nursing ◽

10.1891/1078-4535.25.3.249 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 25 (3) ◽

pp. 249-257 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Stephanie Chalupka ◽

Laura Anderko

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Social Justice ◽

Human Health ◽

Common Good ◽

Health And Safety ◽

School Environments ◽

Healthy Environment ◽

Mitigation And Adaptation ◽

The Common ◽

Impacts Of Climate Change

The predicted impacts of climate change are fast becoming a reality and are already adversely affecting human health and health systems. Events such as flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes, and wildfires are challenging communities to re-evaluate whether their schools provide a safe, healthy environment. Among the populations most vulnerable to the impacts of our changing climate are our children. Nurses are key to supporting mitigation and adaptation efforts to promote more resilient school environments, using approaches based on values of the common good and social justice.

Download Full-text

An Interdisciplinary and Intersectoral Action-research Method: Case-Study of Climate Change Adaptation by Cities Using Participatory Web 2.0 Urban Design

Enquiry A Journal for Architectural Research ◽

10.17831/enq:arcc.v10i1.162 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 15 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Geneviève VACHON ◽

Marie-Noël Chouinard ◽

Geneviève Cloutier ◽

Catherine Dubois ◽

Carole Després

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Action Research ◽

Web 2.0 ◽

Collaborative Design ◽

Decision Aids ◽

Health And Safety ◽

Quebec City ◽

Intersectoral Action ◽

Urban Neighbourhoods ◽

Negative Impacts

This paper discusses the last segment of a three-year interdisciplinary and intersectoral action research on climate change and urban transformation. The project had, as one of its core missions, the role of imagining urban and architectural adaptations for urban neighbourhoods that would contribute to minimizing the negative impacts of climate change on people’s comfort, health and safety. The first part of the paper describes the collaborative design and augmented participation method used in the context of Québec City, Canada. These include the design process conducted to imagine adaptation scenarios, the visual strategies undertaken to make these understandable for the population, and the Web 2.0 crowdsourcing approach forwarded to measure feasibility and social acceptability of the design and visualization strategies. The second part discusses three positive outcomes of the process. First, collaborative design conducted with intersectoral groups of experts constitutes a promising avenue to identify adaptations and evaluate their relevance. Second, crowdsourcing is a powerful tool to inform the general public about climate change including both negative and potential aspects. As well, the crowdsource model allows access to particular knowledge which empowered users to make changes around their homes and neighbourhoods or advocating action from their local government. Crowdsourcing is also an efficient tool to help understand what people know about the potential impact of climate change and how it bears on their comfort, health and safety. Third and finally, the design proposals and the evaluation comments generated by working closely with various stakeholders, along with the public on-line consultation, allow for the induction of pragmatic recommendations that can be used as decision aids by elected officials and civil servants to better prepare their municipalities for climate change.

Download Full-text