Literature Review

This article summarizes the scientific evidence regarding the current and projected health impacts of fossil fuel combustion on young, developing children. Developing fetuses and young children are more biologically and psychologically vulnerable than adults to toxic air pollutants, heat waves, and other fossil fuel related results of climate change. The author advocates for a holistic, child-centered energy and climate policy that reduces our dependence on fossil fuels.

This article examines the present-day status of ocean acidification and the dangerous effect it has begun to have on ecosystems and communities. According to scientific literature, present-day (2020) atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are nearly 50% higher than preindustrial concentrations. The atmospheric CO2 has also increased CO2 in the ocean, which has shifted the seawater chemistry to more acidic, lower pH conditions. Modeling work suggests that ocean acidification, along with other climate-related changes like water temperature warming, will alter ocean ecosystems and disrupt food webs. The ocean acidification has the potential to increase the toxicity or abundance of harmful algae blooms, effect the net calcification of the coral reef, negatively influence oyster recruitment, decrease harvests of shellfish species, and more. The authors advocate for shellfish aquaculture industry growth, as it’s been linked to enhanced water quality monitoring and improved water quality, as well as efforts to capture CO2 and interventions supporting coral reef restoration.

This article synthesizes ninety-four systematic reviews of health impacts of climate change. Five categories of climate impacts are covered, as well as ten health outcome categories. Publications most commonly studied meteorological impacts, such as changes in temperature and humidity, and physical health outcomes, most notably infectious diseases. The authors suggest that more research should be done on other climate impacts on health and less common or rarely explored outcomes (like those related to skin diseases or allergies) should also be investigated. The authors also recommend exploring the impact of climate change on mental health and emotional resilience.

This article analyzes hospital admission rates for respiratory illnesses in relation to smoke-wave days in the western United States. Results show that women and black individuals had higher risks of hospital admissions for respiratory illnesses associated with smoke exposure. This multiyear, multistate study considered a population of approximately five million and also supported the authors’ conclusion that wildfire-related pollution is potentially an environmental justice issue that disproportionately impacts high-risk communities.

This article provides a transdisciplinary conversation between scientists, planners, foresters and fire managers, fire safety, air quality, and public health practitioners to paint a holistic view of how forest and fire management intersect with human health. Climate change and more than a century of fire exclusion and wildfire suppression have led to contemporary wildfires with more severe environmental impacts. Wildfire smoke exposure has been shown to exacerbate existing respiratory disease, such as asthma and chronic pulmonary disease. The authors offer ecological restoration efforts as a way to adapt forests to climate change in Washington, Oregon, and California.

This article found a statistically significant increase in diabetes hospitalization rates in individuals who resided in ZIP codes containing or abutting hazardous waste sites containing persistent organic pollutants in New York State.

This article analyzes the findings of in-depth interviews with 12 women who practice subsistence farming and were either pregnant or had delivered within the past month in West Kiang, The Gambia. The expected increase in heat in The Gambia is one of the most significant health threats caused by climate change. The researchers set out to answer the question of whether and how pregnant farmers in The Gambia perceive and act upon occupational heat stress and its health impacts on both themselves and their unborn children, against the backdrop of current and expected climatic changes. All 12 women who participated in the study experienced significant heat stress while working outdoors during their pregnancy. Their symptoms included headaches, dizziness, nausea, and chills. Across the study, the women recognized climate change as an important challenge, especially to their agricultural output and livelihood. Despite their bodies, livelihoods, families, and communities being disproportionately affected by climate change discourse, woman are often excluded from the conversation. The authors call for a directed effort to include women in leadership and conversation regarding climate adaptation programming.

This article is a qualitative study that explored data from 83 focus group discussions in Burkina Faso, Mozambique, and Tanzania. The 791 participants involved across the 10 sites perceived inequities related to their individual characteristics, intermediate factors acting on the community level, and structural conditions. Environmental pollution, land loss, and other changes in the natural environment were induced by the mining projects and greatly affected the daily lives of nearby communities. This resulted in and highlighted health inequities among the participants as their access to land decreased for agriculture use, herding, and housing. They were unable to buy new land for housing and the smaller areas they were resettled to had infertile soil. Water access was also limited and traditional water sources became polluted. Food insecurity, hunger, and an increase in water-borne diseases all impacted the communities daily life. The authors recommend that to address health inequities, holistic policies must be introduced and programs must also consider the different impacts across demographics. For example, impacts vary on females and males, including girls and boys, due to their engendered roles in the community.

This article devises a method to identify a population’s vulnerabilities to increasing climate change-related health hazards (CCRHHs). This was done by locating a community’s pre-existing sensitivities and adaptive capacities in response to a CCRHH. The authors identified climate change-related risk factors in an area, then created actionable health vulnerability index scores to map community risks to CCRHHs, and finally analyzed these patterns and deduced what areas in British Columbia, Canada faced the greatest inequities and thus demands priority. Over one hundred epidemiological papers identified determinants for extreme heat, flooding, wildfire smoke, and ozone. The authors provide index scores for those four hazards in four different categories—exposure, sensitivity, adaptive capacity, and overall vulnerability. The methodology is very transparent and thorough to allow other groups to adapt and replicate this study in other communities.

This article analyzes the biological, physical, social, and built environments that disproportionately impact perinatal health among Black pregnant people in a large and diverse urban area in the United States. The Maternal and Infant Environmental Health Riskscape (MIEHR) Center recruited over one thousand pregnant people between April 2021 and February 2023. Through urine samples, a limited number of oral and vaginal swabs and fecal samples, a questionnaire, and other health record data information, the researchers identified individual- and neighborhood- level features in the environment that contributed to Black-White disparities in perinatal health. The study found that stress from Hurricane Harvey and proximity to a superfund site both negatively and disproportionately impacted Black pregnant people.

This article reviews literature on health impact assessments (HIA) and the degree and manner in which health equity has been incorporated into concept designs. The authors recognize that environmental changes across the globe often exacerbate existing health inequities among already vulnerable populations and emphasize the importance of incorporating practical, equity-focused methodologies or approaches to analyze these impacts. In their discussion, the authors call for longer-term assessments to accommodate the impacts of global environment change, which tend to transpire over more broad and lengthy amounts of time as compared to other policies. They also make note to use the equity standard or what should be fair or just. Many of reviewed literature analyzed differential health outcomes according to population status (e.g. race/ethnicity, gender, class, etc.) instead of identifying underlying inequities that may cause these differing health outcomes. The authors advocate for the use of integrated assessment of environmental, community and health issues to give a comprehensive understanding of how ecological and environmental change effect public health.

This article goes one step beyond green spaces and advocates for green infrastructure, which is a strategically planned network of natural and semi-natural areas designed to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services and improve human health. This narrative review looked at small green infrastructures, like green roofs and walls, and their potential to mitigate urban flooding, reduce indoor temperatures, diminish noise pollution, and more. No conclusive ties were drawn between small or large green infrastructures and positive health outcomes, but evidence certainly suggested that the impact could be beneficial to human health.