Environmental Exposures, Climate Change, and Mental Health: Impacts in Vulnerable Communities

Climate change, one of the biggest global health threats of the twenty-first century, is already responsible for extreme weather events that are more frequent, more severe, and longer lasting. The broad-ranging effects of climate change, including cascading effects on natural ecosystems, health, communities, and livelihoods, are making climate change increasingly complex and difficult to manage. Importantly, the health consequences of climate change are not experienced evenly, with frontline communities around the world bearing the brunt of the impacts of climate-related exposures. Although substantial research has been conducted to understand the physical health impacts of climate-relevant exposures, the mental health implications of climate change remain incompletely characterized. Our aim in this chapter is to focus on the mental health implications of continued human-induced climate change, with a particular eye to assessing the impacts of climate change within disproportionately vulnerable communities. We focus on two main causes for the disproportionate impacts of climate exposures on mental health: place-based vulnerability, where residents’ geographic location confers vulnerability to local climate hazards, versus resource-based vulnerability, in which disproportionate access to resources concentrates vulnerability among certain peoples and communities. We end with an outline of the important research gaps that remain to be addressed, as well as advocating for inclusion of mental health considerations into climate mitigation and adaptation strategies.