A resident of the El Cabanyal neighborhood in Valencia collects the water from his house after the May 3 storm that recorded 232 liters per square meter Mònica Torres
In the past few weeks, various news items related to climate change and public health have converged. Of course, this isn’t a new or unexpected relationship. The impact of extreme weather events (such as heat waves, torrential rains, or food crises) on people’s physical and mental well-being, as well as other impacts resulting from the emergence of invasive species (particularly mosquitoes, which can transmit diseases) or changing weather patterns. However, the evidence accumulated in recent years, added to today’s climate projections, has fueled and heightened concerns about these direct consequences of global warming in a world that has less and less leeway to avoid climate catastrophe.
In the last few days we learned of the seventh edition of The Lancet Countdown, a report from the prestigious medical journal The Lancet, which states: “Climate change is increasingly undermining all pillars of health and exacerbating the effects of the current Covid-19 pandemic. 19 Pandemic and geopolitical conflicts”. The rise in temperature and the associated chaos in the terrestrial system has not (only) to do with the polar bear, nor with the winter clothes left in the closet, nor with the annoyance of an unusually warm day to run the half marathon in Valencia. It’s about how we live, how we get sick and unfortunately also how we die.
The Region of Valencia is located in the Mediterranean basin, one of the hot zones of climate change and this affects us in all dimensions of our daily life, our economy, perspectives and opportunities for future development as a society. Health, of course, is one of those dimensions: we just learned that between June and September, the excess of heat-related deaths tripled, according to data from the Carlos III Health Institute. A total of 337 people. Namely: a plane full to the brim that crashed in front of our noses, but we don’t seem to pay any attention to it. A fact that, as expected after an extremely hot summer, is still terrible. What do we do?
We have some clues as to where to direct our steps. A study published in October this year reaffirms that health is a very powerful narrative framework for communicating climate change. By articulating the message in terms of health, we increase citizen support for climate policy. We see it as a near, real, tangible danger that makes us more willing to support deep transformations. Then we use it. Environmental communication and political action, which have so often invoked referents and narratives whose mobilizing power has been insufficient, need to understand which sources work in 2022. In an area where the questions remain many (Is it better to communicate with? Hope or anger? Should we focus on threats or opportunities? Do we emphasize that every single gesture counts, or do we focus once and for all to collective action?), we need to use what we know for sure.
Most of this summer’s fatalities are people over the age of 85. Climate change is not just a matter for future generations; We cannot and should not wash our hands because we think that this does not apply to us but to “the young”. It is here and now, in our streets and in our fields, in our homes, in the rivers and on the beaches. Unfortunately also in our hospitals.
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