Blog Call Out: Climate Ethics, Equity, and Health
Hello fellow stewards of the Earth! As part of Western’s Power and Global Health Day committee, we would like to invite you to write a blog post on the topic of Climate Ethics, Equity, and Health.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has clearly demonstrated, public health is greatly affected by disruptions to biological and ecological systems. These health effects include increased respiratory and cardiovascular disease, injuries and premature deaths related to extreme weather events, changes in the prevalence and geographical distribution of food– and water– borne illnesses and other infectious diseases, and threats to mental health. As vaccines rollout and the world opens up again, we ask you to consider which societal systems need changing. We invite you to write from your heart and share your hopes and concerns for the future of our planet in whatever way feels right. Feel free to include text, photos, infographics, artwork, poetry, and videos.
Blog submissions are welcome from the entire Western community as well as external community members. Current students’ blogs will be submitted to a panel composed of students, faculty, and community representative, with the most compelling 5 blogs awarded a prize of $100 each.
All blogs meeting submission criteria will be featured on Western’s Global Health Equity website.
Blog posts will be accepted until November 1, 2021 at midnight. Winning student blogs will be announced on November 18, at Power & Global Health Day.
Blogs should not exceed 1500 words, and should align with the general blog guidelines for the GHE hub.
Please submit your entry here.
Please include CLIMATE ETHICS BLOG in your subject heading.
Topics that might inspire your blog include, but are certainly not limited to:
- The limitations of individual action in the face of global climate change
- The importance of Indigenous knowledge for climate change mitigation and adaptation
- Importance of integrating different knowledge systems in climate change research in the Assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
- Issues surrounding climate justice, how certain populations are more vulnerable than others due to socio-economic health determinants
- In what way, if at all, is Indigenous knowledge combined with scientific knowledge?
- The higher the diversity of adaptation approaches in our repertoire, the greater our chances of finding responses that fit a particular situation
- Perceptions of Indigenous knowledge as being of lesser value and legitimacy than knowledge deriving from dominant societies and cultures, because some of the underlying belief systems and environmental ethics are at odds with capitalist economic systems
- How anthropocentric changes have altered the state of the climate and how the harms associated to this change of state can be mitigated
- Eco-anxiety and mental wellbeing more generally are starting to receive more media attention though it is still an area that is under-researched in climate science
- Climate change mitigation vs climate change adaptation
- Heat stress related health problems to come of climate change
- Climate change’s effect on water safety, and how this impacts human health
- Water boiling advisories on Indigenous reserves in Canada
- Air pollution’s impact on human health, how we might reduce emissions of greenhouse gases
- How climate change affects the prevalence of water-borne diseases and diseases transmitted through insects, snails, and other animals
- Those most vulnerable when it comes to being affected by climate change
We look forward to hearing from our community and holding these important conversations. Please also join us at Power and Global Health Day on November 18, 2021.
