to minimize allergic reactions, such as going outside later in the day, when pollen levels are lower, and reducing allergens inside the home. After all, this isn’t about plants being bad for people. We can’t live without them. It’s more about the natural systems that keep us alive and healthy being thrown out of whack by our reckless behavior.
“The evidence is overwhelming: climate change endangers human health,” said WHO director-general Margaret Chan. “Solutions exist and we need to act decisively to change this trajectory.” Doing all we can to prevent climate change from getting worse will make life easier for all of us. If we want to protect our health, our children and grandchildren’s health, and the natural systems that keep us alive and healthy, we must act.
MENTAL HEALTH IN THE FACE OF CLIMATE DESPAIR
WHILE CLIMATE CHANGE is affecting and will continue to threaten human physical health, it’s also taking a toll on mental health. People understandably feel afraid, grief-stricken, guilt-ridden, and often powerless to change what we are doing to the planet and its life-support systems. According to a 2016 Toronto Star article, “Signs of mental distress related to climate change have appeared in vulnerable populations, from drought-stricken prairie farmers to isolated aboriginal communities and the scientists who crunch climate data.”32
The article points to a 2012 U.S. National Wildlife Federation report that concluded increasing heat waves, drought, extreme weather, and growing pressure on food and water systems and infrastructure will increase mental and social disorders, including “depressive and anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders, substance abuse, suicides and widespread outbreaks of violence,” hitting “children, the poor, the elderly and those with existing mental health problems” the hardest.33
Climate scientists and environmentalists who study global warming are reporting increasing cases of depression, anxiety, stress, and other difficulties, coupled with the problems they bring about, such as marriage breakdown, substance abuse, and even suicide.
Although the article notes that the American Psychological Association is taking the issue seriously, studying and raising awareness about it, most health authorities are unprepared. Environmental lawyer David R. Boyd, who has done work with the David Suzuki Foundation, told the Star that he wrote The Optimistic Environmentalist in part to overcome the stress of examining environmental problems. “For me, writing this was a voyage of recovery,” he said.34
Birds and Other Animals Face Hard Times
OUR INSATIABLE ENERGY appetite puts many animals at risk. A 2015 report in Science magazine concluded that one in six animal and plant species could go extinct over the coming century if we don’t do enough to address climate change, with those in South America, Australia, and New Zealand being hit particularly hard.35 The researchers found that 2.8 percent of species are already at risk of extinction and that the risk would rise to 5.2 percent with a two-degree-Celsius increase in global temperatures. Extinction risks could be exacerbated by human activity, leading to habitat loss or damage, pollution, and alteration of natural systems by climate change. A 2013 study predicted that global warming could eliminate or deplete 82 percent of California’s native freshwater fish species. Other studies have found that climate change will alter migration patterns and timing, affect reproduction, and make some fish smaller.
Birds face some of the highest risks. Reading some energy-related news and blogs, one might conclude wind power is the biggest bird killer. But that’s far from true. Although poorly situated wind farms, especially ones using older turbine technology, do kill birds, it’s an issue that can be addressed to a large extent with proper siting and good technology, as can problems around solar installations where birds have died. Fossil fuels, especially coal, are by far the largest energy-related bird killers. Heavy metals such as mercury and lead from burning coal kill numerous birds—and even change their songs, which can affect their ability to mate and protect territory.36 And climate change is affecting many species’ breeding and migratory patterns.
Renewable energy critics often cite the number of birds killed by wind power installations, but studies show that fossil fuel and nuclear energy are responsible for far more bird deaths—and house cats kill billions of birds a year.
Not only do birds fill us with awe and wonder, but they also provide food and feathers, and keep insects and rodents in check. Their ability to warn us of the drastic ways we’re changing the world’s ecosystems, climate, and water cycles can’t be ignored. By working to ensure more species don’t go the way of the passenger pigeon, we’re also protecting ourselves from the effects of environmental destruction.
Habitat loss is a major threat for birds and other animals, and destroying green spaces where birds and animals live also reduces carbon sinks. According to many scientific studies, between sixteen thousand and seventeen thousand plants and animals are threatened with extinction because of human activity, mostly through habitat loss. This includes 12 percent of all known birds, 23 percent of mammals, and 32 percent of amphibians. Climate change is predicted to sharply increase the risk of species extinction within our own children’s lifetime. According to the IPCC, 20 to 30 percent of plant and animal species assessed will probably be at increased risk of extinction if global average temperatures continue to rise with escalating emissions of carbon pollution.
Animals are especially at risk in the Arctic, where global warming is occurring more rapidly than elsewhere, with more severe consequences. The international community has flagged global warming as a major threat to the survival of polar bears. In 2006, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, listed the polar bear as a “vulnerable” species. In a 2015 update of its Red List of Threatened Species, the IUCN flagged “loss of sea ice habitat due to climate warming as the single most important threat to the long-term survival of the species.”37 Polar bears, which are extremely important to the culture and livelihoods of indigenous people, travel over sea ice to get to their prey. The IUCN update says, “An annual ice-free period of five months or more will cause extended fasting for the species, which is likely to lead to increased reproductive failure and starvation in some areas. According to recent sea ice projections, large regions of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago will be ice-free for more than five months by the late 21st century; and in other parts of the Arctic, the five-month ice-free threshold may be reached by the middle of the 21st century. Warming Arctic temperatures could also reduce habitat and increase the incidence of disease for prey species such as ice seals, placing the polar bear at further risk.”38 The bears also face threats from pollution, resource extraction, oil spills, and other development. As top predators, polar bears help keep northern ecosystems in balance. The IUCN is working with Canada, Norway, Greenland, Russia, and the United States on a Circumpolar Action Plan to help the bears survive.
The IUCN says 35 percent of bird species, 52 percent of amphibians, and 71 percent of reef-building corals are “particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change.”39 Scientists like famed Harvard entomologist E.O. Wilson have described the current wildlife crisis as a silent epidemic, because it receives so little attention from governments. As individuals, we must conserve energy, shift to cleaner sources, and demand that our industrial and political leaders address issues such as pollution and climate change. And we can work to protect wetlands and other bird habitat. We can also join the legions of citizen scientists who are contributing to avian knowledge by posting information to sites such as eBird.org.
Climate Change Exacerbates Conflict and Refugee Crises
CONFLICTS AND REFUGEE crises aren’t new, but 2015 was marked by particularly devastating events. As world leaders and experts prepared to meet in Paris to address the climate crisis, refugees from the horrific conflict in Syria were
