Source
The impacts of climate change are already creating new barriers to health equity and strenghtening old ones. People who experience structural marginalization, including anti-Black racism, colonial oppression, and material deprivation are disproportionately affected by extreme weather events, loss of access to land, food insecurity, chronic stress, and other direct impacts of climate change. Those impacts also deepen existing inequities. Because of this, antiopressive approaches to individual and community health should include mitigating and building resilience to climate change.
To learn more about why and how to build climate resilience, the Alliance presented a fireside chat in partnership with CASCADES and the Indigenous Primary Health Care Council. Panelists shared their insights about the role, responsibility, and capacity of the primary health care sector and health professionals to identify and address climate change vulnerability and lead adaptation activities.
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#Learning Objectives
This webinar will help you develop a deeper understanding of the interplay between equity and climate change and promising pathways to resilience, including:
- How long-standing structural inequities make certain populations and communities more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
- How the impacts of climate change make pre-existing inequities even more profound.
- Why advancing climate change adaptation and mitigation is key to anti-oppressive practice.
We also heard about promising pathways to building climate resilience in health care, through social prescribing and similar models. For example:
- How incorporating community development and health promotion into practice can reduce the carbon footprint of the health system.
- The role of the primary health care sector in identifying and addressing climate vulnerabilities.
- Land-based, climate-friendly and restorative activities that can be incorporated into community development and health promotion.
#Panelists
- Imara Rolston, PhD, Faculty at Dalla Lana School of Public Health
- Dakota Recollet, IPHCC Cultural Safety Manager
- Selma Tobah, PhD, Community Development Worker at London InterCommunity Health Centre
- Bev Taylor, Social Prescribing Lead at NHS England
#Moderators
- Fiona Miller, Director, CASCADES and the Centre for Sustainable Health Systems, Dalla Lana School of Public Health
- Natasha Beaudin, Social Prescribing Project Lead, Alliance for Healthier Communities,
#Additional Resources
- Health of Canadians in a Changing Climate, Health Canada
- Climate Change and Health Equity, Greenbelt Foundation
- Mental Health in a Changing Climate, Greenbelt Foundation
- Addressing the ecological determinants of health: contributions of Canadian CHCs until 2018, P. Young, D. Cole, C. Wong Labow, and C. Thompson
#Co-Sponsors and Partners
This webinar was co-sponsored by the Alliance for Healthier Communities, CASCADES, and the Indigenous Primary Health Care Council (IPHCC).
