The McGill Centre for Climate Change and Health, launching November 20th, has adopted a multidisciplinary approach to mitigating dangerous environmental conditions and increased health risks in Canada and globally.
“The climate crisis is a health crisis and McGill is extraordinarily well-positioned to provide leadership in this area,” says Jill Baumgartner, the inaugural Director of the Centre and Professor in the School of Population and Global Health “Our Centre brings together our world-class researchers and students from across the university to share knowledge, develop new ideas and help communities better respond to the health challenges of climate change.”
In addition to its research focus, the Centre will be a platform for evidence-based advocacy to inform practice and policy, says Jura Augustinavicius, Associate Director of the Centre and an Assistant Professor of climate change and mental health. “All sorts of academics have some role to play in advocacy, especially if they’re working on a topic as important as climate change, and specifically climate change and health. Our first priority is always to respect the scientific method and generate high quality evidence in support of practical action on climate change,” Prof. Augustinavicius notes.
The Centre was established in response to the growing demand for both scholarly content and training on climate change and health, says Prof. Baumgartner. “We’re not starting from scratch. McGill already has multiple research programs and classes on climate, environment and health, and our impact is evident in national and global policy frameworks on air pollution, clean energy and chemical exposure.”
The Centre will kick off with a lecture series called Building Climate Resilience: Public Health Solutions for a Changing Environment, co-hosted with the Department of Equity, Ethics and Policy. “We’ve invited leading experts from engineering, public health and economics to address a broad spectrum of climate-related issues that impact our daily lives, including the health impacts of heatwaves and climate-resilient housing. These issues affect our health, safety, and future well-being, and we’re excited to highlight the work that McGill researchers are doing to mitigate these impacts,” Prof. Baumgartner says.
“Any discipline where people are using their skills and tools and knowledge to tackle climate change and health related issues are welcome and encouraged to become a member of our Centre,” adds Prof. Scott Weichenthal, an Associate Director of the Centre. “For example, I work with engineers and mental health experts like Prof. Augustinavicius, to study how heat contributes to adverse mental health outcomes. I also lead projects that examine population exposures to aeroallergens which are expected to increase with climate change. I think we all agree that multiple disciplines and sectors are needed to address the health challenges of climate change, and that we need to move outside of our disciplinary comfort zones.”
The Centre for Climate Change and Health also plans to bring its findings to the public. “We all have really strong partnerships with different actors working across practice and programming in public health and policy,” Prof. Augustinavicius says. “For instance, I work with NGOs that deliver mental health services, and they have a very strong interest in integrating climate change considerations into their work, but are not always sure how to do that. Part of my work is helping them to translate evidence into practice to inform this integration.”