From Inuit Nunangat to the Marsh: How climate change and environmental racism affect population health

• Published in: Healthy Populations Journal
• Main Author: Torrealba, Christina Norma
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Healthy Populations Institute 2021
• Subjects: Arctic; Climate change; Human health; inuit
• Online Access: https://ojs.library.dal.ca/hpj/article/view/10663; https://doi.org/10.15273/hpj.v1i2.10663

It is widely accepted in the scientific community and beyond that climate change presents an immediate and severe threat to human health and well-being. However, the consequences of climate change are not experienced equally across all populations. Black and Indigenous communities are disproportionately exposed to harmful, hazardous, and often toxic activities and pollutants—a form of racial violence known as environmental racism. To understand how environmental racism, exacerbated by climate change, affects population health, I will explore two examples of environmental racism in Inuit Nunangat in the Arctic and in Truro, Nova Scotia. Finally, I will discuss social capital and power in the context of environmental racism—incorporating an eco-social perspective when addressing environmental racism—and the ways in which population health researchers can help narrow the health gap caused by environmental racism and climate change.