Home ›› 30 Aug 2021 ›› Opinion
Climate change is not a new topic; it is a phenomenon that has been occurring over a period of years. However, the impacts of climate change have become more conspicuous in recent years due to compounded vulnerability a function of several factors including urbanization migration, and population pressure, among others. The Global Climate Risk Index 2020 analyses to what extent countries and regions have been affected by impacts of weather-related loss events which is storms, floods, heat waves etc. The countries and territories affected most in 2018 were Japan, the Philippines as well as Germany. For the period from 1999 to 2018 Puerto Rico, Myanmar and Haiti rank highest. 15th edition of the analysis reconfirms earlier results of the Climate Risk Index: Less developed countries are generally more affected than industrialised countries. Regarding future climate change, the Climate Risk Index may serve as a red flag for already existing vulnerability that may further increase in regions where extreme events will become more frequent or more severe due to climate change. But the 2018 heatwaves and droughts also proved: High income countries feel climate impacts more clearly than ever before.
Effective climate change mitigation is therefore in the self-interest of all countries worldwide. Climate change is increasing the burden of climate-sensitive health determinants and outcomes worldwide. Acting through increasing temperature, changes in the hydrologic cycle, and sea level rise, climate change is projected to increase the frequency and intensity of heat events and extreme events, change the geographic range and incidence of climate-sensitive vector, food, and waterborne diseases, and increase diseases associated with air pollution and aeroallergens.
Children are particularly vulnerable to these health outcomes because of their potentially greater exposures, greater sensitivity to certain exposures, and their dependence on caregivers.
The 21st century in the context of a changing climate, assessing emergent trends in sustainable fashion as an alternative consumption pathway through the annual Trash the Runway event in Boulder, Colorado. In this research, we interviewed and surveyed designers and analyzed workshop activities that led up to their annual fashion show. We also interviewed and surveyed students at the University of Colorado who worked with designers to produce short films about them and their work. The project centers on decolonial practice by providing who are often marginalized in decision-making processes a stage to articulate policy and behavior changes to address climate change and sustainability. We found designers expressed reticence before the workshops and events to speak about climate change in everyday life, yet their design work creatively spoke powerfully for them, and they expressed less discomfort after the experience, while they advanced their skillset as climate communicators. Moreover, we found both designers and student partners reported that they think climate change will impact people greatly in the future.
Recent Findings.Both the direct and flow-on effects of climate change place children at risk of mental health consequences including PTSD, depression, anxiety, phobias, sleep disorders, attachment disorders, and substance abuse. These in turn can lead to problems with emotion regulation, cognition,learning, behavior, language development, and academic performance. Together, these create predispositions to adverse adult mental health outcomes. Children also exhibit high levels of concern over climate change. Meaning-focused coping promotes well-being and environmental engagement.Both direct and indirect climate change impacts affect children’s psychological well-being. Children in the developing world will suffer the worst impacts. Mental health professionals have important roles in helping mitigate climate change, and researching and implementing approaches to helping children cope with its impacts.The 2015 Paris Agreement reflected global acknowledgement that climate change is an urgent and potentially irreversible threat to human societies and the planet. Scientists view it as the biggest global health threat of the twenty-first century Climate change is quintessentially a macro-system phenomenon, but its impacts are felt at every level of the system, from macro to micro. It poses substantial and escalating risks for food security, water availability, health, housing, infrastructure, agriculture and natural ecosystems.
There is a deep inequality in its causes and its impacts: disproportionately caused by the developed world, it will disproportionately affect the developing world; and children and future generations will disproportionately suffer its consequences. And yet peace psychology has been slow to consider climate change as a peace issue. This chapter positions climate change as an urgent issue of structural violence and intergenerational justice that demands attention from psychologists, scholars, practitioners, activists and policy-makers, with particular emphasis on the needs of current and future
generations of children.Bangladesh is likely to be one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change. This paper discusses the possible impacts of climate change in Bangladesh through tropical cyclones, storm surges, coastal erosion and back water effect. The possible increase in cyclone frequency in the Bay of Bengal, lying south of Bangladesh, due to climate change is looked at by analyzing the cyclone data for 119 yr. Both qualitative and quantitative discussions are made on cyclone intensity increase for a sea surface temperature rise of 2 and 4 C. Different scenarios of storm surges under different climate change conditions are developed by using a numerical model of storm surges for the Bay of Bengal. Possible loss of land through beach erosion due to sea level rise on the eastern coast of Bangladesh is examined. Some discussions are also made on the impacts of back water effect due to sea level rise on flood situations in the country. Finally, a few remarks are made on the adaptation options for Bangladesh in the event of climate change.
Bangladesh is by no means a high emitter of carbon, but it is nevertheless one of the countries most critically affected. There is a significant risk of damage to lives and livelihoods due to climate change in the form of cyclones, flooding and storm surges, and slow-onset impacts such as droughts, sea level rises and river basin erosion. Moreover, Bangladeshis are
especially vulnerable as a high proportion of people live in extreme poverty. This book assesses the impact of climate change in Bangladesh, and presents the findings of a three-year, in-depth study undertaken at village level in different districts of the country. It examines national policies, contrasting them with what is actually happening at village level.
The writer is a freelance columnist
