Climate change and health
Adapting to unavoidable risks from climate change while reducing our impact through facility design and operations.
Mitigation: reducing greenhouse gas emissions to limit climate change
Organizations worldwide must take urgent steps to decrease greenhouse gas emissions and minimize changes to our global climate system. The less our global climate warms, the fewer the impacts on our health and day-to-day lives.
Adaptation: preparing for current and future challenges related to climate change
While we need to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions drastically, we must also adapt to the risks of a changing climate. Climate change adaptation is the process of ensuring that we are ready for the current and future challenges of a changing climate.
What you need to know about
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Extreme heat
Extreme heat can be very dangerous. Learn the symptoms of heat stroke, heat exh…
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Drought
A drought is a period of conditions that are drier than normal. This can occur …
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Winter weather
Exposure to winter weather can be harmful to health, and in some cases may pose…
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Wildfire smoke
Wildfire smoke events are becoming more frequent and severe as the climate chan…
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Storms and flooding
The impacts of flooded rivers, coastal storm surges, landslides and extreme pre…
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Community Health & Climate Change Maps
VCH is using models and maps to advance our collective understanding of what ma…
About the Healthy Environments and Climate Change team
VCH Public Health works to prevent illness, by reducing the extent to which environmental and social factors negatively impact the health of our communities.
The focus of the Healthy Environments and Climate Change team is on improving health outcomes linked to physical and environmental factors such as climate change, noise and air pollution, community design and more, through research, policy input and review, and education.
We work with regional, municipal and non-governmental partners on plans, projects, and policy proposals, incorporating lenses of environmental determinants of health and equity.
Learn more about the healthy environments and climate change team.
Contact the healthy environments and climate change team at healthy.environments@vch.ca
