Keyword Health

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.

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.

Did you know that the climate crisis is also a health crisis? Climate change impacts the health of Canadians - from increasing heat stroke to spreading new infectious diseases - and these impacts are getting worse. At the same time, there is a lot that we can do to protect ourselves and reduce climate pollution for healthier, safer futures.

As summers become longer and hotter under climate change, many Canadians will be seeking relief at lake beaches. But hotter summers and changing precipitation make favourable conditions for algal blooms to grow in the water, which can produce toxins that are harmful to human health. Experts, Indigenous communities, and residents in the Lake Winnipeg area are all too familiar with the impacts of algal blooms on health, as they discuss in this video

“What’s the Buzz” tells the story of Canada’s increase in mosquito-borne diseases over the last 20 years, largely due to climate change. With warmer, wetter weather in our future, experts expect these diseases will become more common. Canadians are being impacted while also responding to an increase in West Nile Virus and adapting to lessen their risk.

When the three hottest months of the high-sun season roll around, many Canadians are used to dealing with pests - be it those pesky mosquitoes when working out in the yard or sticky ticks when walking in the forest. But in a warming world, these pests are becoming more than just a nuisance for Canadians.

Lyme disease is on the rise in Canada, due in part to climate change. Warming temperatures are allowing blacklegged ticks - the species that can carry Lyme disease in central and eastern Canada - to move into new territories. Hear from the scientists, medical professionals, and citizens on the front lines of this infectious disease issue, and how we can prepare and protect our families and communities from this risk.

When wildfires are at your community’s door, there’s only one thing to do: evacuate. As communities are uprooted and fires are being fought, people are put under extreme stress that leads to both short- and long-term mental health impacts.

Canada has some of the cleanest air on the planet.[1] But the truth is, many Canadians—especially in urban centres—are finding it more difficult to breathe easy. For example, instead of fresh spring air, the first day of Toronto’s 2019 spring break arrived with an air quality warning thanks to high levels of air pollution.[2]

The Climate Atlas allows you to explore how climate change can impact your health. Hot temperatures can make pollution problems worse, lead to more dangerous heat waves, greatly increase the risk of forest fires, and more. Understanding the magnitude of these changes and risks allows citizens, politicians, and planners to take meaningful action to mitigate and adapt. The following maps describe some of the key climate impacts facing the health of Canadians: