From city life, you decide to take up on a farming project on some huge piece of land back home say about 2 acres. You do it right, even get professional help to have the farm properly irrigated and even run on solar. They do well, you have a market ready to absorb the vegetables. One week to harvest, the biggest hailstorm pours down destroying the investment you put your time, effort, and money in it. But climate change has put your life on hold, captive, and unaware of your next step to take.
Climate change has direct and indirect impacts on mental health. Extreme weather events such as floods, hailstorms, heat waves, drought can cause home displacements, environmental degradation, resource scarcity and social conflicts. The weatherman can give us early warnings but the immediate actions to take and mitigating actions is what we will breakdown here.
· Promote climate change adaptation: This can help building resilience by investing early warning systems, strengthening infrastructure, implementing disaster preparedness and protect vulnerable populations.
· Community support and social cohesion: Encourage community engagement, organizing community workshops can provide emotional support during climate-related crises and help individuals cope with stress and anxiety.
· Education and awareness: Increasing public awareness about the mental health impacts of climate change is important. Education campaigns can help reduce the stigma surrounding mental health promoting understanding and empathy for those affected by climate-related mental health challenges.
· Addressing mental health impacts caused by climate change requires a multi-faceted and long-term approach. While we look at the resources needed to implement mental health as a priority, currently running health institutions can incorporate these stations in their facilities, train healthcare professionals in recognizing and addressing climate-related mental health concerns with help of government and private institutions.
Otherwise, jobs will keep getting affected, bills accumulating and we will keep asking why the rate of suicide is now on the rise. Climate change has brought this destruction upon us. Let’s reclaim our mother earth by protecting our minds first.
#climatechange #mentalhealth #environmental #sustainability #circulareconomy
