Concentrated Attention on the Health Impact of Global Warming would Spur More Public Interest-

A newly released study suggests that the general public may be more likely to accept and support climate change mitigation action if it were a proven threat to human health. According to the study, if the human health effects of global warming were explained and supported in sufficient detail, people might be more engaged and motivated in encouraging tougher action to reduce its impact. The survey of US adults showed they reacted more favorably to statistics about the health impacts of climate change, such as allergies, asthma, growth in infectious diseases, and vulnerability to extreme heat. Not to mention, those surveyed were extremely receptive to information about the health benefits associated with mitigation-related policy actions — a subject which may have been previously renounced. The researchers from George Mason University’s Center for Climate Change Communication (4c), whose study was published in the BMC public health journal, said the health impacts of climate change has been “dramatically under-represented” in discussions by scientists, policy makers, and NGOs who instead concentrated on “geographically remote” effects like melting ice caps in the Arctic. “Re-defining climate change in public health terms should help people make connection to already familiar problems such as asthma, allergies and infectious diseases, while shifting the visualization of the issue away from remote Arctic regions and distant peoples and animals,” said co-author Edward Maibach. The study challenges climate scientists and environmental NGO’s to work more stringently with health specialists to uncover all health effects of climate change and also work on the health benefits of policies to gain public favor. “The public health perspective offers a vision of a better, healthier future—not just a vision of an environmental disaster averted,” said Maibach. “We believe this survey is one step in shaping a way to talk about climate change that will reach all segments of the public—not just those who already are making behavioral changes,” he added.