Festival of Ideas: The Climate Crisis and Its Impact on Mental Health

Date: Wednesday 9th August 2023
Time: 12:00 – 13:00
Delivered: Virtually via Zoom, link to follow prior to the event

Research from small grassroots organisations to the International Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are increasingly pointing towards extreme temperatures, worsening air conditions, restricted access to water and a reduction of green spaces as having serious and lasting impacts on people’s mental health.

In the UK context, we know that people from racialised communities and people living in poverty are less likely to have access to green spaces, and more likely to be living in areas with sub-par air quality and to be housed in over-industrialised and over-populated locations. These conditions are not only bad for physical health but have a significant impact on mental health too.

There is generally a lack of focus on how the climate crisis is impacting those already most at risk and the ways in which mental health intersects with ongoing climate breakdown. The fourth event in our Festival of Ideas series will dig deep into these intersections, by exploring the unequal impacts the climate crisis is having on people of colour and people living in poverty and what this means for mental wellbeing.

Here at Centre for Mental Health we are looking to continue to build our knowledge and understanding of these issues, bring people who are working in this area together and drive forward actionable change on this era-defining topic. At this final event, we’ll be hearing from an expert panel of speakers working at the intersection of climate change and mental health who will explore radical ideas and solutions.

Chaired by Peter Coventry – Senior Lecturer in Health Services Research at the Department of Health Sciences and co-lead for the Environment and Health research theme at the York Environmental Sustainability Institute, University of York.

Speakers include:
Elliot Busari – Mental health enthusiast, activist and aspiring clinician
Agnes Agyepong – Founder and CEO of Global Black Maternal Health
Piran White – Professor of Environmental Management in the Department of Environment and Geography at the University of York