Introducing Health and Climate Change

Health and Climate Change

In this course, Dr Pedro Beltran-Alvarez (University of Hull) explores the impacts of climate change on human health, and opportunities related to joint action on the climate and public health. In the first lecture, we outline what climate change is, the ways in which it may affect health, and variations in people’s vulnerability by location and socio-economic status. The second lecture then looks specifically at heatwaves and extreme heat, including the urban heat island effect and measures cities can take to protect their populations. In the third lecture, we explore the health impacts of flooding and how the warmer, wetter conditions produced by climate change are altering global patterns of disease. The fourth lecture then considers the exacerbating effect climate change is expected to have on existing inequalities in health, with poorer people being more likely to be negatively impacted. We conclude with a fifth lecture thinking about sustainable diets and physical activity as two areas in which individuals can help tackle climate change and improve their own health at the same time.

Introducing Health and Climate Change

In this lecture, we think about what climate change is and how it can impact human health. We focus on: (i) the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as the key factor influencing the Earth’s climate, and the huge increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide since the industrial revolution; (ii) the significant rise in average global temperature by around 1.4°C in the last 150 years; (iii) the worsening of extreme weather events, most importantly heatwaves and flooding, as the main direct way in which climate change impacts upon health; (iv) variations in people’s vulnerability to negative health effects from climate change, and location and socio-economic status as the two main factors shaping this; (v) opportunities linked to action on health and climate, particularly in terms of co-benefits - measures to tackle climate change are often simultaneously beneficial for human health, and vice versa.