Keyword Health

Along Canada’s coasts and across its farmlands, climate change is reshaping more than landscapes and weather patterns. It is also changing something far less visible: the safety of our food. Warmer temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns, and more frequent extreme weather events are creating conditions where harmful bacteria, viruses, and toxins can thrive. These changes are increasing opportunities for foodborne diseases to enter the food system, from farms and fields to lakes, rivers, and coastal waters. [1]

Canada is experiencing two major changes at the same time: an aging population and a changing climate. By 2040, approximately 10.7 million people will be 65 years and older, comprising a quarter of the national population [1]. Everybody ages, and everybody ages differently. Biological, physical, and socioeconomic factors all contribute to health and well-being as we grow older. This means while there is no typical blueprint for aging, we each experience the joys and challenges of aging in some form. As climate change increases the severity and frequency of hazards such as heatwaves, wildfires, flooding, the impacts of these events can intersect with the challenges that come with aging, making them more difficult to manage. [2][3] How we live today and plan for the future will shape our health, independence, and longevity as we all grow older in a changing climate.

We often point fingers at individuals for their struggles, but what if the problem lies in our systems? This film examines how large-scale structures—like capitalism and colonialism—impact community health. As climate change amplifies existing inequities, we explore the urgent need to move toward a more empathetic, collective responsibility.

For generations, Indigenous sea gardens have been a testament to engineering, stewardship, and deep connection to the land. But as climate change threatens our food sources, it also threatens our language and culture. This film explores the profound importance of reciprocity and the fight against cultural erasure.

Across Canada, the changing climate is affecting the health of people. [1] Prolonged periods of heat, wildfires and poor air quality, and infectious diseases are impacting our mental health, physical health, and the health of communities. We are realizing more and more that climate change is a health issue, as much as it is an environmental and social issue.

The health of every life form on earth is affected by the changing climate, from tiny microbes, to the vast boreal forest. Some impacts of climate change are visible, like more frequent and severe forest fires, where the smoke is harmful to our health. However, there are other things that can make us sick that we cannot see.

The 2021 heat dome killed more people than any other natural disaster in Canada. In a world struggling with more frequent heat waves, this film investigates the delicate balance between the life saving use of air conditioning to stay cool and the environmental risks associated with its overuse. Researchers focused on the impact of rising temperatures on heart health explore the challenge of keeping cool without succumbing to the dangers of overheating. This documentary prompts viewers to consider the broader implications of our reliance on air conditioning, and offers cool solutions in an increasingly warming world.

Anyone who has experienced seasonal allergies knows the suffering that comes with itchy eyes and blocked sinuses. Looking to the future, this discomfort may get worse, as Canadians are expected to face new allergens and higher levels. Climate change is bringing longer growing seasons, which means more pollen in the air. In this video, experts from Aerobiology Research Laboratories explain the increase in pollen they have seen in recent years, and how they are monitoring pollen levels to help Canadians respond and adapt.

AVAILABLE WITH DESCRIPTIVE AUDIO: https://youtu.be/vUDsjqmQWu4 People with disabilities are the world's largest minority group and are disproportionately affected by climate change. As disability justice and climate issues collide, Cripping Climate Adaptation lays bare the often disastrous consequences of overlooking people with disabilities and illustrates the need to consider the unique needs of people with disabilities and include them in climate adaptation. Set to a lively visual backdrop of dance, music, and activism, this documentary defines the incredible toolkit on adaptation from the disability community, one that adds depth, texture and creativity to get beyond traditional ways of how the environment is used. Let's not miss out on this tool kit of ways of seeing.

What can you do when everyday you wake up and don’t know what the future will look like? When everything around you is already falling apart. When your generation's future is having to deal with the climate crisis. Youth activists talk about connecting and organising with other young people as a way to channel climate anxiety and despair. Hope is active and lies in the community.