The Health Impacts of Climate Change: Can Whole Health Help Us Cope?

Iwill start with a disclaimer: ChatGPT helped me find a good topic for this editorial. But in a different way than I had planned. When asked, the artificial intelligence actually helped, but only suggested one topic and that was… artificial intelligence. More precisely, “Harnessing the Power of Artificial Intelligence in Integrative Medicine: A Promising Synergy.” Not particularly modest.

After all, an artificial intelligence that has been created in the image of humankind seems to have adopted many of its characteristics, in particular excessive egocentricity and overconfidence. Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahnemann describes overconfidence as the most important cognitive bias. If he had a magic wand, the first thing he would use it for would be to make this bias disappear. ¹

The consequences of human overconfidence are legion—but few will concern us and future generations more than climate change.

With unprecedented changes in the Earth's climate, the impact on human health is becoming increasingly apparent. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Sixth Assessment Report delivers a clear message—climate risks are manifesting at an alarming rate, exceeding previous predictions. ² The scientific consensus indicates that 3.6 billion people currently live in regions that are particularly vulnerable to climate change, with low-income countries and small island developing states disproportionately affected by adverse health outcomes, despite contributing the least to climate change themselves. ²

The climate-induced increase in extreme weather events is already taking its toll on human lives. Heatwaves, droughts, storms, and floods contribute to rising mortality rates, especially in vulnerable regions where death rates are 15 times higher than in less vulnerable areas. ² Furthermore, the changing climate landscape exacerbates the prevalence of vector-borne diseases, foodborne illnesses, and mental health disorders. ^2,3 The impact on children, women, and marginalized communities is particularly troubling and paints a vivid picture of health inequality in the shadow of a changing climate.

However, while the brunt of the health impacts of climate change are mostly felt in vulnerable regions, industrialized countries are not immune to its consequences. Changing disease patterns, such as the increasing prevalence of vector-borne diseases, pose new challenges for the health infrastructure in industrialized nations. ⁴ Climate changes promote an increase in allergic reactions, cardiovascular symptoms, and, for example, due to the increase in extreme summer heat, premature deaths even in regions that are less directly affected. In addition, the economic burden of health care costs increases as the frequency of climate-related health emergencies rises, putting additional pressure on already strained health care systems. ⁵

Climate change is affecting our physical and social environments, altering natural, human-made, and social systems and, according to the World Health Organization, has the potential to reverse decades of progress in health care. ³ Climate change not only directly threatens physical health but also significantly affects social and mental health as people struggle to cope with the social changes and psychological impacts of extreme weather events, displacement, and insecurity. ³

Whole Health has long recognized the interconnectedness of physical, mental, and environmental well-being ⁶ and provides a framework to structure and systematize health impacts of climate change and interventions to deal with them. The multilevel whole person health framework aims at “empowering individuals, families, communities, and populations to improve their health in multiple interconnected domains: biological, behavioral, social, and environmental.” ⁷

In the context of Whole Health, the adverse effects of climate change extend beyond the individual to communities and global populations. The disruption of food systems, the increase in disease burdens, and the exacerbation of health inequities underscore the need for holistic, inclusive strategies that prioritize the interconnected elements of well-being. In addressing the climate crisis, we must align our efforts with the vision of Whole Health and ensure that our collective response takes into account the complex interplay of physical, mental, social, and environmental well-being. We must be confident, but overcome overconfidence and recognize the negative consequences of our actions as much as the positive ones. And not, like some politicians, trust that someone will invent something or that artificial intelligence will save us where natural intelligence fails (or that Daniel Kahnemann will use his magic wand) to reverse climate change. But to develop strategies to cope with the personal and social, regional and global health impacts as best we can.