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Having a basic understanding of climate change will be important in building the confidence to speak on the links between menstrual health and climate action.
Having a basic understanding of climate change will be important in building the confidence to speak on the links between menstrual health and climate action.
Climate change refers to the change in average weather conditions over a long period, at least 30 years. When Earth's average temperature changes, it can have major impacts on the health of our planet and everything that lives on it because it throws our system out of balance.
Climate changes from place to place, but the average temperature worldwide has been increasing steadily (it's currently about 1.2°C warmer than it was before the Industrial Revolution), and we're on track to reach a warming that would lead to catastrophic effects.
The cause of climate change
The cause of climate change
It is important to know that human beings have flourished on this planet because Earth's climate has been pretty stable while we've been around. This has allowed us to settle down, produce our own food, and grow as a society. Unfortunately, once we figured out how to extract and burn fossil fuels and industrialize agriculture, humans also became a major driving force of change on our planet.
Burning fossil fuels introduces a lot of carbon dioxide (CO2) into our atmosphere, and while CO2 is not the only gas responsible for our current warming trajectory, it is the primary concern. CO2 also comes from manufacturing products, like cement, and cutting down forests to use the land for other purposes, but fossil fuels account for about 90% of those CO2 emissions.
If you want to learn more about the causes of climate change, check out the resource list at the bottom of this page.
The effects of climate change
The effects of climate change
Extreme weather: Think of heat as energy for storms. As the world gets warmer, it's providing more energy to extreme events like hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, and wildfires.
Sea level rise: Water expands as it heats up, which alone causes sea levels to rise, but melting ice sheets are also a contributing factor. As they continue to rise, coastal and island regions will become uninhabitable.
Spread of diseases: Climate change impacts health directly in many ways, but it also changes how diseases spread. For example, insects like mosquitos will follow the most comfortable temperature, so we'll start to see diseases like West Nile and Malaria in new regions.
Note: This is not a complete list but rather a small snapshot of what climate change is doing to our planet.
Climate action
Climate action
Addressing climate change has two main components: adaptation and mitigation
Climate Adaptation
Climate Adaptation
Climate adaptation is about making changes to help protect people and the environment from the effects of climate change. Options here could include solutions to prevent damage from extreme weather (like the mangrove forest pictured above) or designing crops that tolerate heat.
Photo by David Clode on Unsplash
Climate mitigation
Climate mitigation
Climate mitigation is about reducing the things that make the Earth's climate change. It's like stopping or using less of the things that make the Earth warmer. Key elements are reducing carbon emissions, protecting the earth's natural resources, and taking action to reverse global warming.
Photo by American Public Power Association on UnsplashLearning resources
Learning resources
3-hour group workshops on the science behind climate change, with a focus on empowering action.
Free email-based courses on climate change. The basics of climate change are sent out over 14 days as 5 to 10-minute bursts of learning.
The Health Effects of Climate Change is a free* online course that starts with the basics of climate change and dives into its effects on human health.
*Auditing is free, but a certificate of completion is also available for a fee
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