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Climate Justice

earthClimate Mental Health: Climate Justice

People from underresourced communities often disproportionately feel the impacts of climate change as they are more likely to live in communities that experience environmental disasters, higher air pollution, or higher ambient temperatures. Exposure to these hazards may lead to increased damage to or loss of infrastructure and homes, health issues, and possibly even forced migration. Due to these disproportionate effects, climate justice should be at the center of every discussion about climate change and its impacts on health.

Return to the Climate Mental Health Page.

Acknowledge people who are impacted more than most by climate change

Under-resourced and overburdened communities have fewer opportunities, training, and means to act in response to natural disasters, and often face political, social, and economic barriers to mitigating impacts and adapting to a changing climate. Community members with more wealth are more likely to secure federal recovery aid after a natural disaster. Navigation of these challenges, in addition to existing burdens, may result in increased climate anxiety.

Teaching Resources

Include different voices, especially those most impacted

To successfully imagine a sustainable future and take collective climate action, a multitude of voices are needed, including those communities that are living with and adapting to climate impacts, especially in under resourced communities.

Teaching Resources

  • Young Voices for the Planet includes a variety of examples of youth around the globe who have taken action to make a difference.
  • Gen Z young adults share their stories about climate mental health and their coping mechanisms for climate anxiety.

Include other ways of knowing

Much of the science taught across the curriculum is based on Western scientific approaches. Incorporating other ways of knowing about the natural world, such as Traditional Ecological Knowledge,, refers to knowledge systems that Tribal communities have acquired over hundreds and thousands of years building on  their direct connection with the environment.

Teaching Resources

  • Check out NASA's Living Landscapes Project, a set of climate-science educational resources designed to integrate traditional knowledge about the climate with current climate science research.
  • The Tribal Climate Tool provides maps, graphs, and reports that summarize projected changes in climate for specific tribes in the Pacific Northwest and Great Basin
  • This Witnessing Environmental Changes video examines the issue of climate change from the perspective of Native Americans.
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