Abstract
In Canada, the climate crisis has had profound impacts on health, including increased health problems as well as decreased access to healthcare services. Without mitigation, the climate crisis is expected to exacerbate an abundance of negative health outcomes and health system disruptions in Canada, including: food, water, and shelter insecurity; increased health problems caused by severe weather; and forced displacement from geographically vulnerable areas. Governmental action could be taken to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis and improve healthcare in the country. This report synthesizes current literature on how the climate crisis is affecting health in Canada. It also recommends 3 actions that can be taken to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis and improve the country’s health. Actions include: conducting climate change and health vulnerability assessments (CCHVAs), enhancing support for climate action research, and reducing CO2 emissions in the healthcare sector.
Highlights
The climate crisis in CanadaThe climate crisis is defined as a severe change in global climate patterns
Benefits of increasing climate action research are shown in a study of climate crisis perceptions: when climate change was introduced as a health problem with mitigation-related policy options, 83% of respondents saw climate-action centered health policy as a plausible option to mitigate the climate crisis [26]
The climate crisis is expected to exacerbate an abundance of negative health outcomes and health system disruptions in the country
Summary
The climate crisis is defined as a severe change in global climate patterns. Currently, the earth’s climate system has changed almost beyond repair [1]. It is predicted that by 2060, all areas of Canada will experience increased mean temperatures, leading to a decrease in public health and access to healthcare services [1]. With these general concerns in mind, specific social groups in Canada are at higher risk of poor health due to the climate crisis given their economic status, geographic location, and pre-existing health care inequities [1, 5, 6]. For this population, changing temperatures can impact the distribution and availability of, for example, animal populations – which are important in Indigenous subsistence hunting and are a foundational food resource [1]
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