Last summer’s heat dome caused more than record-breaking temperature increases - the extreme weather event contributed to rising anxiety about climate change, according to a new study.

Researchers with the Mental Health and Climate Change Alliance (MHCCA) found significantly higher climate change anxiety following the heat dome. They believe their study, published in the Journal of Climate Change and Health, is among the first of its kind to demonstrate direct links between mental health concerns and climate change-related weather events.

According to MHCCA director Kiffer Card, an assistant professor in SFU’s Faculty of Health Sciences, “Our research explores an important link between two of the most pressing public health emergencies of the 21st century: mental health and climate change. In doing so, our work sends a clear message: that planetary health and personal health are one in the same.”

Card says the MHCCA will continue monitoring levels of climate distress among British Columbians and hopes to extend its research on climate event-related anxiety nationally. The group has applied for federal funding, though Card notes the lack of availability of federal funding to learn more about the health impacts of climate change remains a barrier.  According to the Canadian Research Information System, over the last decade, less than one per cent of health research funding in Canada has gone to projects related to “climate change” or “global warming.”

Read the full article about climate events and mental health at Environmental News Network.