Description:

There is growing appreciation that extreme weather events and climate change threaten human wellbeing through impacts to mental health and chronic disease. In contrast to acute injuries directly sustained from weather events such as tornadoes, environmental drivers of chronic disease are often more indirect, such as poorer healthcare due to lost income following a flood, or even existential,  as recent work on climate anxiety has revealed. This session encourages submissions that elucidate the manifold ways weather and climate impact the broad range of mental and/or chronic health outcomes, advancing understanding of these connections and proposing potential solutions to reduce these environmental health burdens, especially in vulnerable communities.