Elaine C Flores, PhD, MD, MSc, Research Fellow in Human and Planetary Health from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine gave a presentation to The Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS) on 2 June on the topic of Climate Change and Mental Health. The presentation was hosted by Aaliya Aaliya, a visiting research fellow from Duke University, in collaboration with Student Services at IIS.
Dr Flores has over 13 years of experience in the field and highlighted the recent paradigmatic shift she has observed in the global understanding of climate change as an existential threat to human health, mortality, and quality of life. She also drew attention to proposed actions to mitigate the changing climate through a move towards clean energy, agricultural practices, and making lifestyle changes. Dr Flores emphasised taking an intersectional approach to climate change, as not only does it have multifarious health, socioeconomic, geographic, demographic, and sociopolitical consequences, but it also has a disproportionate effect on developing nations. More specifically, Dr Flores stressed that mental health issues, spanning from emotional distress to clinical mental illness, greatly increase with the direct and indirect consequences of climate change.
Those particularly vulnerable to climate-induced mental health challenges include women, the elderly, indigenous groups, and those with preexisting physical and mental conditions. Dr Flores cited a metanalysis from Environment International, noting that mental health mortality increases at twice the rate of global temperature.
Dr Flores then offered a more optimistic outlook with progressive action. Natural and climate disasters can also spark collective resilience in affected communities, which can increase through cultural expression and shared relationships with the natural environment. She highlighted different initiatives from around the world that build community around environmental projects and accentuated the need for both empathy and collective action in addressing climate distress.
This talk represents one step in the ongoing initiatives of IIS to raise climate consciousness, which is in turn an extension of the ethic of environmental custodianship found in the literature that informs our work, including The Epistles of the Brethren of Purity and the AKDN Ethical Framework. We are also excited to host a conference next year on the topic of elements and their significance, entitled Elemental: Ismaili Perspectives on Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Ether.
