Reframing Climate Change as a Public Health Issue
Author | : Alizee Pillod |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : |
Release | : 2021 |
ISBN-10 | : OCLC:1295847223 |
ISBN-13 | : |
Rating | : 4/5 ( Downloads) |
Download or read book Reframing Climate Change as a Public Health Issue written by Alizee Pillod and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Climate change represents a major threat to public health in Canada and elsewhere. Conversely, climate action could procure potential health co-benefits. Although research on climate communication is growing, only a few studies have explored how the media connect climate change to its impacts on human health. The media can play a key role in shaping people's understanding of the issue as well as their support for policy change. This media content analysis investigates the coverage of climate change impacts on human health in the Canadian news outlet The Globe and Mail between 2008 and 2020. Our study suggests that the public health frame remains largely underutilized to this date, and that journalists fail to make comprehensive links between climate change and health. When the issue is addressed, the content is most often unprecise, with either no particular health risk, social mediating factor or vulnerable population identified. Climate action health co-benefits can convey positive emotions and induce greater behavior change. Yet, they are rarely mentioned. While previous studies have shown that health professionals are best equipped to communicate the risks, we found that members of civil society with no medical expertise were the most regularly cited individuals in the articles. Finally, the Covid-19 pandemic could be described as a missed opportunity to reframe climate change, as our study demonstrates that the public health frame was not more often used in 2020 than it was before.