“Climate change is a major concern in the region. Records indicate that temperatures have been six to 11 degrees warmer in recent winters than in the past.”
—Dr. Ashlee Cunsolo Willox

If global warming and climate change create more floods in some regions and more droughts in others, you can imagine it’s difficult for those living through those devastating weather events. And that would likely have a negative effect on the mental health of the people living in those regions. But floods and droughts are variable and truly a part of weather rather than climate, so few areas are going to be hit consistently by them.

Assessing the effects of weather on mental health might be difficult to quantify. But if there was a region on Earth where climate change is more consistently affecting it, then we could look to that region and more properly assess the mental health of the inhabitants of those regions. But is there such a region on the planet?

Hello Arctic! Dr. Ashlee Cunsolo Willox, Canada Research Chair in Determinants of Healthy Communities and an Assistant Professor of Community Health at Cape Breton University in Sydney has explored this topic extensively, and has published a number of articles on the effects of climate change on the Inuit. One particular group living in Labrador’s Nunatsiavut region have been living through climate change for many years already. Global warming has significantly affected their region, resulting in changes in ice conditions and snow levels. How does that affect them? This particular group depends heavily on the ability to hunt and that activity, something they depend on for their livelihood rather than for sport, is being threatened.

Dr. Willox previously published a study in Climatic Change that addressed these impacts on the mental health of the Inuit affected. The study found that climate change is clearly affecting both the mental and emotional health of the people living there. How? Dangerously thin ice affects their ability to travel which is usually by snowmobile. Even inland their transportation is affected, meaning these people are feeling trapped in their communities. Many of the residents describe feeling depressed, anxious, stressed, and angry. Some have reported feeling a loss of their own personal ancestral identity.

Interviews conducted by Dr. Willox and her staff led to a conclusion:

Changes in climate and environment increased family stress, enhanced the possibility of increased drug and alcohol usage, amplified previous traumas and mental health stressors, and were implicated in increased potential for suicide ideation.

There are so many adverse effects that result from global warming and climate change. Most of us only think about the damage to land and property. But we can’t forget that it can also damage our ability to cope. For now it’s the Inuit. In time it will be many more unless we change.