Climate Change

Journal Article Annotations
2022, 3rd Quarter

Climate Change

Annotations by Mary Burke, MD
October, 2022

  1. Temperature impacts on hate speech online: evidence from 4 billion geolocated tweets from the USA.
  2. Psychological responses, mental health, and sense of agency for the dual challenges of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic in young people in the UK: an online survey study.
  3. The Intersection of Immigrant and Environmental Health: A Scoping Review of Observational Population Exposure and Epidemiologic Studies.

PUBLICATION #1 — Climate Change

Temperature impacts on hate speech online: evidence from 4 billion geolocated tweets from the USA.
Annika Stechemesser, Anders Levermann, Leonie Wenz

Annotation

The finding:
Prior studies have shown that heat waves increase the expression of mental illnesses and worsen aggression. This study shows how this effect extends to online hate speech, which in turn has been linked to actual violence; the authors also report increases in hate speech during unusually cold periods. Analyses demonstrates these outcomes were not simply due to more time spent online during periods when the outdoor temperature is extreme and to be avoided.

Strength and weaknesses:
The researchers used a vast trove of online messages and were able to correct for a number of confounders. These findings held across all climate zones and socioeconomic strata. They used urban centers only which may undercount the impact in rural areas (that are particularly prone to adverse effects of climate change).

Relevance:
As clinicians we are dealing with an epidemic of mental illness including aggression, suicidality, and anxiety. Institutions, governments, and medical clinicians under-recognize the powerful role that unexpected temperature extremes play on our mental stability. C-L psychiatrists can include frank discussions with patients and communities about the role that heat and online hate speech play in worsening mental stability and ways to promote self-care.


PUBLICATION #2 — Climate Change

Psychological responses, mental health, and sense of agency for the dual challenges of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic in young people in the UK: an online survey study.
Emma L Lawrance, Neil Jennings, Vasiliki Kioupi, Rhiannon Thompson, James Diffey, Ans Vercammen

Annotation

The finding:
The climate crisis emerged as a major impact on the mental well-being of global youth—as demonstrated by Hickman et al. and annotated here in Q4 of 2021. This article examined the impact of COVID and the climate crisis on youth in the UK and so is an interesting follow-up to that earlier study. The youth surveyed expressed greater levels of distress around the climate crisis as well as greater sense of agency. Respondents’ level of distress did not typically reach a severity warranting a clinical diagnosis. While they were more directly impacted by COVID at the time of the survey, and reported that COVID interfered more directly with their daily well-being, respondents nevertheless reported greater anxiety related to climate change with climate-specific anxiety increasing in proportion to overall anxiety. On the positive side, youth reported greater interest and agency with the climate crisis. The article highlights the role clinicians can play in harnessing that engagement to support mental resilience in the face of deteriorating climate conditions.

Strength and weaknesses:
The numbers surveyed were large and the careful breakdown of negative emotions allows a nuanced understanding of the experience of the youth surveyed.  The authors tried to recruit from diverse communities with stipends for participation to reduce self-selection bias. However, the study only looked at youth in the UK and ran early during the pandemic, when countries were still wrestling with a major public health crisis.

Relevance:
Keep listening for the ways that existential fear for the future is impacting your younger patients!


PUBLICATION #3 — Climate Change

The Intersection of Immigrant and Environmental Health: A Scoping Review of Observational Population Exposure and Epidemiologic Studies.
Kelvin C Fong, Seulkee Heo, Chris C Lim, Honghyok Kim, Alisha Chan, Whanhee Lee, Rory Stewart, Hayon Michelle Choi, Ji-Young Son, Michelle L Bell

Annotation

The finding:
There is insufficient research into environmental impacts on immigrant health, even as immigration rises with cascading climate disasters. This review summarizes research reporting that immigrants tend to have higher exposure to toxins with associated negative health outcomes, and to live in areas vulnerable to flooding (one study). The paper’s Tables 1 and 2 richly summarize the disparities in environmental exposures and health outcomes adversely affecting immigrants. For example, immigrants are more likely to have greater exposure to heavy metals and toxic organic compounds, air pollution, and PM2.5; less access to green spaces; and an increased likelihood of living in flood risk areas. Immigrants differentially experience certain negative health outcomes include a higher incidence of birth defects and mortality associated with PM2.5.

Strength and weaknesses:
The researchers did not distinguish immigration status from socioeconomic status, and the majority of studies were from the US even though immigration is now a global crisis

Relevance:
The article points to future directions for research as well as policy. C-L psychiatrists working with immigrants should be attentive to the health consequences of these environmental disparities.