How adaptable you are to climate change could depend on where you live in Edmonton
CBC
This story is part of the Prairies Climate Change Project, a joint initiative between CBC Edmonton and CBC Saskatchewan that focuses on weather and our changing climate.
How climate change affects your health could depend on where you live, according to a new study.
In their examination of several Edmonton neighbourhoods, researchers at the University of Alberta mapped out which communities — and the people living in them — were most vulnerable to climate change.
"Bringing climate health into climate change conversations then ratchets up that conversation and the importance of it, when we talk about addressing it and how quickly we have to address it," said Shelby Yamamoto, lead researcher on the project by the Climate Health and Environment Epidemiology Research (CHEER) group.
The team combed through data gathered from several sources, including the Canadian census, Alberta Health Services, Parks Canada and Environment Canada.
Sammy Lowe, CHEER lab research lead, said climate change is becoming more of an issue, especially when it comes to effects like unpredictable temperature and air pollution.
"And we can see those impacts on our health today," Lowe said.
"We think it's important to understand how those environmental factors impact those of us in the city," said Lowe. "It's really going to vary depending on where you live."
For the study, vulnerability is defined by a simple equation including three main components: exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity.
Exposure is the level of things like air pollutants, heat, precipitation and smog.
Sensitivity looks at the demographic breakdown of a neighbourhood, looking at whether there are older adults or younger children, who are at higher risk to the impacts of climate change.
Adaptive capacity is the availability of things like green spaces, bodies of water and health services.
Regardless of how much exposure and how sensitive a population may be, if a neighbourhood scores high on adaptive capacity, that will lessen its vulnerability.
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Warning: This story deals with suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, you can find resources for help at the bottom of this story.