One thing we have learnt this week – climate change and mental health

honey bee in oregano 2018Climate change is regarded as a threat to all sorts of things, civilisation itself, wine, beer, skiing….  Now there is said to be a link between climate change and mental health.  So far there has been too little action.  You would have thought the threats to wine and beer would be enough?  Now a group at Berkeley California has found a correlation between rising temperature and suicide.  For a 1ºC rise in temperature suicides in Mexico and the US went up 2.1 and 0.7%.  It has to be said that if you search for climate change and mental health all sorts of links to all sorts of mental conditions come up not just suicide.

Of course correlation is not causation.  There is some evidence to support their assertion from social media with higher temperatures in these places people are more unhappy.  So what’s going on?  I’m happy when its warmer.  I’m sitting in the garden in the sun and its stewing.  However the difference is in the UK heat and a decent summer is an added bonus.  Living somewhere where its already hot to start with and it gets even hotter I can see could drive people to desperation.  Of course its probably not just the heat but that is the final tipping point.  It seems likely that increasingly hot summers could lead to 10,000’s of thousands of deaths worldwide and are another reason to do something about climate change.

Neil
mind

 

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