A Climate of Suffering

The Real Costs of Living with Inaction on Climate Change

A recent report by the The Climate Institute in Australia attempts to highlight the theory that damage caused by a changing climate is not just physical.

According to the report, recent experience shows extreme weather events also pose a serious risk to public health, including mental health and community well-being, with serious flow-on consequences for the economy and wider society.

The paper’s purpose is to raise awareness of the mental health consequences of extreme weather events and climate change. By reviewing the evidence and expert opinion, the authors hope that governments, businesses and communities will be prompted to act early, to avoid further unnecessary suffering and cost.

As recent disasters like Cyclone Yasi and the Eastern Australian floods have shown, many people prove remarkably resilient in the face of a disaster. However, people’s responses to disaster are complex. With the right support, many communities can pull together and pull through, and Australians rightly celebrate this apparent strength. However, for many, the dislocation and suffering caused by extreme events can linger for years, long into the ‘recovery’.

The report also claims that how much Australians’ mental health burden grows in the future depends significantly on how quickly and substantially there is action on climate change now. Seeing action on climate change as an investment in preventative health care is an important first step it says. After all, prevention is always better—not to mention cheaper—than treatment.

The global climate is changing. Sadly, some further suffering is now unavoidable and a complementary focus on adaptation is essential. However, governments can choose to substantially minimise the suffering, and the social and economic costs by acting early to cut pollution and switch our economy to clean energy and production. By making a genuine effort at home, Australia will be much better placed to work with the rest of the world to avoid the worst scenarios painted by climate science.

The Climate Institute sums up by stating that the task is two-fold: to manage the unavoidable changes already in the pipeline and, at the same time, avoid the unmanageable human tragedy of climate change unchecked.

The full report is available as a PDF from The Climate Institute website:
A Climate of Suffering: the real cost of living with inaction on climate change.

(Melbourne & Sydney: The Climate Institute, 2011).