HEALTH AND SENSE OF PLACE

How Health is Impacted through Influences on Sense of Place

How health is impacted through influences on sense of place

As climatic and environmental changes are increasingly felt throughout many regions globally (IPCC, 2007a, 2007b), peoples throughout the world are increasingly exposed to changes and disturbances in weather, wildlife and vegetation patterns, and water and food quality, access, and availability in their local regions (Ford, Berrang-Ford, King, & Furgal, 2010; Higginbotham, Connor, Albrecht, Freeman, & Agho, 2007; IPCC, 2007a, 2007b; Speldewinde, Cook, Davies, & Weinstein, 2009; Tong & Soskolne, 2007). Research has indicated that these global climatic and environmental changes have impacts on human health and well-being (Campbell-Lendrum et al., 2009; Few, 2007; Frumkin, Hess, Luber, Malilay, & McGeehin, 2008; St. Louis & Hess, 2008), with climate change simultaneously described as “an environmental health hazard of unprecedented scale” (Frumkin & McMichael, 2008, p. 403) and “the biggest global health threat of the 21st Century” (Costello et al., 2009, p. 1693). Responding to these changes, and the subsequent health impacts, has increasingly become both a priority and a de?ning issue for public health work and research (Campbell-Lendrum et al., 2009; Costello et al., 2009; Ebi, 2009; Few, 2007; Ford, Berrang-Ford et al., 2010; Frumkin et al., 2008; Frumkin & McMichael, 2008; Hess, Malilay, & Parkinson, 2008; St. Louis & Hess, 2008; Tong & Soskolne, 2007).

To date, much of the climate-health literature examines the physical health impacts of climate change: increased risk of foodborne and waterborne diseases; increased frequency and distribution of vector-borne disease; increased mortality and injury due to extreme weather events; and increased respiratory and cardiovascular disease due to changes in air quality and increased allergens in the air (Few, 2007; Fritze, Blashki, Burke, & Wiseman, 2008; Frumkin et al., 2008; Harper, Edge, Schuster-Wallace, Berke, & McEwen, 2011; St. Louis & Hess, 2008; Tong & Soskolne, 2007).

Recognizing that health and well-being is multi-faceted and complex, and encompasses numerous social, cultural, economic, political, psychological, spiritual, and affective dimensions, there is also a growing body of research that examines the link between climatic and environmental change and emotional and mental health and well-being (Berry, Bowen, & Kjellstrom, 2010; Berry, Hogan, Owen, Rickwood, & Fragar, 2011; Cook, Watson, van Buynder, Robertson, & Weinstein, 2008; Cunsolo Willox et al., 2011; Doherty & Clayton, 2011; Fritze et al., 2008; Sartore, Kelly, Stain, Albrecht, & Higginbotham, 2008; Speldewinde et al., 2009; Swim et al., 2010, 2011). These climate-related health effects are unequally distributed, with Indigenous populations carrying a disproportionate burden of the impacts (Ford, in press; Ford, Berrang-Ford et al., 2010; Ford, Vanderbilt, & Berrang Ford, in press; Furgal & Seguin, 2006; St. Louis & Hess, 2008). For example, Inuit throughout Canada's

North are experiencing rapid and acute climatic and environmental changes: decreased snow and ice quality, stability, and extent; later ice formation and earlier ice break-up; melting and slumping permafrost; increased frequency, duration, and intensity of storms; decreased water levels in ponds and brooks; and changes in the abundance, quality, and location of wildlife and ...