Climate change causing negative health impacts: report

A new report from Vancouver Coastal Health says what everyone already knows: climate change is bad for the health of the 1.25 million people living in the region.

"People in VCH can expect to experience more extreme heat, poorer air quality from wildfire smoke, more storms and flooding, longer periods of drought, and numerous ecosystem changes throughout the region," it says. "These changes affect health directly and acutely through exposure to environmental hazards."

Many of the recommendations listed in the report align with those already made by other agencies, said Dr. Patricia Daly, VCH chief medical health officer.

The report cites the 2021 heat dome which was a factor in the deaths of 145 people in the region out of the 619 deaths province-wide.

VCH medical health officer Michael Schwandt said people who attended a hospital emergency department for a heat-related complaint during the heat dome were disproportionately from the downtown area, Downtown Eastside and southeast Vancouver.

"There are areas that are known to have higher concentrations of concrete surfaces, less green space, less tree canopy and overall more impacts of extreme heat," he said. 

According to Schwandt, neighbourhood green space, tree canopy, window shades and mechanical solutions like heat pumps and air conditioning were helpful in preventing heat-related illness. 

The report makes 17 recommendations, including protecting at-risk populations with better infrastructure to establish cool housing spaces, along with better direct support for those at highest risk from extreme heat.

It says youth-led efforts to address climate change and climate anxiety should be supported, along with First Nations-led efforts to improve climate resilience. 

Schwandt highlighted public and active transportation as a way to lower carbon emissions while providing health co-benefits like better physical fitness and mental health.

"One way we can mitigate climate change is to change transportation more toward these sustainable modes," he said. "That requires public transportation systems and active transportation systems that work for people, that are efficient, that allow people to get to where they need to get to in an efficient way."

Schwandt said information gathered from Indigenous communities were crucial in creating the report and understanding climate change issues, which can affect Indigenous communities disproportionately.