Thread by @DrNatOsborne

Day 4 of the @ClimateGriffith "Difficult Conversations" seminar series - "what kind of health risks will climate change bring?" feat. @EliseInTheWoods, @AchiengEO, Prof Kristen Lyons, Dr Shannon Rutherford, & Beny Boi of the QLD African Communities Council #GriffithClimateAction

@ClimateGriffith @EliseInTheWoods @AchiengEO the incredible Dr Esther Onyango @AchiengEO - very often decisions around climate change and health are made by those who aren't affected by the issues #GriffithClimateAction

Shannon Rutherford - the environment has a huge impact on health. Heat is one of the big challenges for us as a community, and we're looking at how digital tech can support older populations during extreme heat events #GriffithClimateAction

Coz I've been thinking a lot about #housingjustice, I'm wondering about the relationship between housing & health. Rentals I've lived in have had pest issues, mould, no/defective insect screens, hot af - all health risks exacerbated by #climatechange #GriffithClimateAction

Other housing issues affected by extreme weather events: overcrowding, unreliable/interrupted access to electricity, power, heating, cooling, internet, even drainage & sewage #GriffithClimateAction #climatechange #COP26

Dr Esther Onyango @AchiengEO - "climate change impacts health both directly and indirectly, and is strongly mediated by env, social, & public health determinants" - like economic, institutional, cultural, biological, geographical factors

#GriffithClimateAction

@AchiengEO Dr Esther Onyango @AchiengEO - heat is already causing significant illness and death; this is getting worse, and populations already experiencing inequality, and who are least responsible for #climatechange, are disproportionately vulnerable #GriffithClimateAction

@AchiengEO Dr Esther Onyango @AchiengEO - what does this mean for australia? Heat extremes have already increased, sea level rose higher than the global average, snow cover and depth decreased, more fire risk :/
#climatechange #GriffithClimateAction #COP26

@AchiengEO Dr Esther Onyango @AchiengEO "no reference at all to health in australia's NDCs" - we still have no national climate adaptation plan for health in australia #GriffithClimateAction #COP26

griiiiiiim

@AchiengEO Beny Boi replies - we've learned that we're all in this together, that everyone is potentially affected and that our actions affect each other #GriffithClimateChange

@AchiengEO Kristen Lyons reflects that #COVID19 laid bare some of the existing precarities and schisms that will be compounded by climate change. The federal gov's emphasis on a fossil fuel-led recovery is only going to further exacerbate health and other inequalities #GriffithClimateAction

Shannon Rutherford - "I find it really interesting how if something is seen to be important enough (#COVID19), the money will be found to provide the transition that we need" #GriffithClimateAction

Beny Boi highlights the importance of grassroots and community agency, and that education can help empower and nurture capacity at that level #GriffithClimateAction

Esther Onyango @AchiengEO "We found the money in the context of an immediate health risk, but people are also *already* dying of climate change, it is also already an immediate health risk" #GriffithClimateAction #COVID19 #COP26

@AchiengEO Kristen Lyons reflecting on broken democracy, and the fractured relationships between many vulnerable communities and government processes, which presents barriers to active involvement and to structural change #GriffithClimateAction #COP26

@EliseInTheWoods tells us that in Mt Isa, growing grass in yards is important to protect kids and pets from the lead in the soil, but this is getting harder as things get hotter & drier #GriffithClimateAction #COP26

@EliseInTheWoods Question from Lara online - any reflections on the relationship between biodiversity and health? Shannon Rutherford replies by highlighting the importance of connections to nature to many aspects of our wellbeing #GriffithClimateAction

@EliseInTheWoods Beny Boi reflects on the loss of biodiversity in Sudan; and the disbelief he experienced when family would tell him how things used to be. As he grew he experienced continued change first hand #GriffithClimateAction #COP26

@EliseInTheWoods @EliseInTheWoods raises the question of workforces who are underprepared for climate-related health crises - this brought to mind @anintegralstate 's work

https://twitter.com/anintegralstate/status/1440827964665434122?s=20

, and @lifeofstuff's (out soon?) #GriffithClimateAction #COP26

There's been an important emphasis in this conversation so far about the importance of effective community engagement & co-learning on issues relating to health and climate change -I think this needs to be coupled with resources + more decision-making power #GriffithClimateAction

Question from Salvadore online - to what degree are cultural heritage, place attachment, belonging, sovereignty (& the risks to place and Country presented by climate change), part of how climate health risks are conceptualised? #GriffithClimateAction

Also if you're following and getting anything out of these livetweets you should follow @ClimateGriffith #GriffithClimateAction #COP26

@ClimateGriffith Josh, young person, says: we don't really know enough about it, we kind of know it's about it but we don't really understand. It's scary. It's going to be happening & evolving in my lifetime. Have you been thinking about the effects on young people? #GriffithClimateAction

@ClimateGriffith Beny Boi - the last thing I want to see happening is the young people waiting until they live it; we cannot afford that. We have to make sure young people understand it's happening and something needs to be done #GriffithClimateAction

@ClimateGriffith Josh seems to be calling for more Difficult Conversations on climate change, more opportunities to learn - the work is cut out for us hey @FemInt?? ;) #GriffithClimateAction

AND YOU TOO @ClimateGriffith

@ClimateGriffith Kristen Lyons - food sovereignty and land sovereignty are at the heart of climate justice #GriffithClimateAction #COP26

@ClimateGriffith Beny Boi - there are so many crops that are no longer able to be planted because of changes to the length of growing seasons; significant implications for food security and sovereignty #GriffithClimateAction

@ClimateGriffith @EliseInTheWoods reflects on some of the issues w carbon farming - agricultural land being lost to carbon farms, jobs are lost from rural areas, the land isn't tended so feral animals are doing more damage (fuelling my suspicion that offsets are a scam)
#GriffithClimateAction

Some exciting opportunities for action - @AchiengEO more valuing of Indigenous knowledges. Kristen Lyons reflects on Pacific Climate Warrior Mary Harm's take on the importance of storytelling in this work #GriffithClimateAction

@AchiengEO Felicity asks what can we take away from this, what individual actions should we take? Beny Boi replies -to find & build collectivities and collective action. Kristen Lyons says - we aren't individuals, we're connected, to each other and the more-than-human #GriffithClimateAction

@AchiengEO answers - talk to someone, share this with people, help spread the word. Shannon Rutherford builds on this by urging us to also talk to people outside our value system (dare I say - to have our own DiFfiCulT ConVerSaTionS???? 🤔) #GriffithClimateAction

@AchiengEO Not me though - I only talk to cool people with meticulously correct opinions 😎 #GriffithClimateAction

@CarolineRiot reflects on the importance of activism, and human rights, and asks the panel about recovery, hope, adaptive capacity and resilience #GriffithClimateAction

@CarolineRiot HARAWAY TIME "1 way to live & die well as mortal critters...is to join forces 2 reconstitute refuges, 2 make possible partial & robust biological-cultural-political-technological recuperation & recomposition, which must include mourning irreversible losses" #GriffithClimateAction

@EliseInTheWoods - who do we need to partner with? Who do we need to get in the room? Shannon Rutherford - we need to get the msg to a different audience, out of our bubbles, maybe through storytelling? #GriffithClimateAction

Kristen Lyons answers there's already lots of people we could engage more, and we also can't afford to get parochial, we need to sustain broader, global, connected perspectives so that we don't ignore the global impact of some appealing "solutions" #GriffithClimateAction

Beny Boi - we need to move away from the ideological line, so climate change isn't seen as a problem for progressives or the left, it's everyone #GriffithClimateSolutions