Alberta scientists band together to shift climate change focus to health impacts

By Bob Weber
The Canadian Press in Global News
March 24, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada West

Bodies and minds are just as affected by climate change as sea ice and forests, says University of Alberta scientist Sherilee Harper. “Climate change impacts everything we care about,” she said. “It’s not just an environmental issue.” That’s why Harper, along with 30 or so colleagues from disciplines as wide-ranging as economics and epidemiology, have banded together into what she calls Canada’s first university hub to shift the view of climate change from an environmental problem to a threat to human health. “The hub is about helping people see that every climate change decision is a health decision,” said Harper. …Wildfire smoke, which last summer gave Canada some of the worst air quality on the globe. …There are mental health impacts as well, from the acute stress suffered by those forced to flee by flames. …Such hubs already exist in the U.S., the U.K. and Australia, Harper said.

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