Mental health, climate change, and bushfires: What's colonization got to do with it?

Abstract

Climate change research has been dominated by studies from the physical and biological sciences that aim to predict and measure the effects and determine actions and strategies for the future. More recently, greater attention has been given to other forms of impact including the social and emotional effects of climate change (Usher et al. 2019). According to Betasamosake-Simpson (2021), climate change is just one part of a longer series of ecological catastrophes caused by colonialism and accumulation-based society. Whyte (2017) suggests that the history of climate change and colonialism is synonymous. Colonization is the result of settler domination, which occurs when one society permanently inhabits a place where one or more societies already exist. As a result, the settlers inflict anti-adaptation on Indigenous peoples. Colonial-induced environmental changes have impacted the ecological systems that supported Indigenous peoples’ cultures, health, economies, and self-determination. Many of these changes occurred so fast that Indigenous peoples became vulnerable to issues such as health problems resulting from new diets and erosion of culture due to colonialism (Whyte 2017). More recently, we have witnessed greater attention being given to the social and emotional effects of climate change (Usher et al. 2019). While the issue of climate change quickly brings thoughts of environmental impact and physical health concerns to our consciousness, less well recognized is the impact climate change has on people's mental health. As human impacts on the planet increase, it should come as no surprise that in addition to biophysiological pathology induced by environmental pollution, there will be psychological illness linked to a negative relationship between humans and their support environment (Albrecht et al. 2007). The impact of climate change-induced weather events and natural disasters on people has been recognized for some time now; these events cause issues including sleep disorders, stress, anxiety, and depression, and can also cause the development of more serious issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder and people who are suicidal (Usher et al. 2019; Warsini et al. 2016). Knowing about the changing environmental conditions and the associated mental distress this causes, as well as recognition that these problems will get worse with rising temperatures, has been described by terms including eco-anxiety (Clayton et al. 2017), solastalgia (Albrecht 2005), or eco-angst (Goleman 2009). The development of these terms is indicative of the growing interest in the emotional impact of climate change. Albrecht (2019) suggests that our emotional relationships with Earth are in crisis, leading to a global sense of distress and pessimism he calls solastalgia; the sadness and grief related to negative environmental change. These terms have been cumulated under the umbrella term ‘psychoterratic’. Albrecht (2018), who coined the term, states that psychoterratic disease arises from a negative relationship with our home environment, be it at local and regional or on a global scale. Psychoterratic states of emotion are not considered to be formally recognized mental health conditions. Rather, these ‘Earth Emotions’ are linked to many of the experiences that have contributed to a rise in numbers of people suffering from mental health-related illnesses. The recent 2019–2020 catastrophic ‘Black Summer’ bushfires in Australia were nothing like we have ever experienced before (Morton 2019). Occurring at the end of a severe drought across many areas of Australia, the bushfires resulted in unprecedented devastation across much of the country with estimates suggesting 14.5 million acres of land was affected (White & Gilbert 2020). While we know that natural disasters are an increasing global threat due to climate change, bushfires, like other natural disasters, can have long-term effects on the mental health of affected individuals and communities (Usher et al. 2021). Some population groups are particularly at risk from the impacts of climate change such as natural disasters as they already experience unique challenges, including socio-economic disadvantage, that impact their ability to cope with and recover from catastrophic events. The Indigenous or First Peoples of Australia have effectively managed Country for hundreds of years; colonization has meant that Indigenous rights to inhabit and care for Country were severely restricted, which had a major impact on Indigenous morbidity and mortality rates. As indicated by the Department of Families Housing Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (2009), the challenge ahead of us is significant as addressing the failures of the past requires taking stock of the true extent of inequalities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. These gaps are most visible in the key areas of life expectancy, infant and child mortality, early childhood education, literacy and numeracy skills, school completion rates, and employment outcomes. For Aboriginal peoples, country is much more than a place. Rock, tree, river, hill, animal, human – all were formed of the same substance by the Ancestors who continue to live in land, water, sky. Country is filled with relations speaking language and following Law, no matter whether the shape of that relation is human, rock, crow, wattle. Country is loved, needed, and cared for, and country loves, needs, and cares for her peoples in turn. Country is family, culture, identity. Country is self. (Kwaymullina 2005) Indigenous Australians have a deep spiritual and cultural connection with Country, and the impact of colonization and climate change events in recent years have caused significant and irreparable changes to Country. This has had a significant influence on the physical and social landscapes of local communities. A report prepared by the Lowitja Institute for the Close the Gap Steering Committee (2020) claims that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health is viewed in a holistic context that encompasses mental health and physical, cultural, and spiritual health. Crucially, it must be understood that when the harmony of these interrelations is disrupted, Indigenous peoples’ ill health will persist. It is very depressing, it brings you down … Even (Indigenous) people that don’t have the traditional ties to the area … it still brings them down. It is pathetic just to drive along, they cannot stand that drive. We take different routes to travel down south just so we don’t have to see all the holes, all the dirt … because it makes you wild. (Indigenous interviewee) Little is known about the impact of previous or the recent bushfires on the Indigenous peoples of Australia, but some have highlighted the urgent need for Indigenous knowledge systems centred around deep understandings and relationships with Country to address the effects of colonization and climate change on Country and people (Steffensen 2020). While it is important to understand the effect of these events on individuals and communities, it is also important to understand how Indigenous peoples adapt to and manage their responses to radical environmental change. Building an evidence base to inform culturally appropriate and culturally safe mental health programmes and capacity building for mental health practitioners is important for all communities and the aspirations of Indigenous peoples to have a crucial role to play in caring for Country in a rapidly changing environment. The study is funded by a Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) EPCDR Bushfire Impact Research Grant (#120166). The first author is in receipt of an Australian Postgraduate Research Scholarship and a University of New England Indigenous Higher Degree Scholarship.