Understorey: Climate 2018 ~A Public and Mental Health plan for WA?

Understorey interviews ANU Climate Change Institute researcher Dr Liz Hannah about climate change, public health and  mental health. Revisiting the radio vault from 2013, speaking to then-Greens leader Christine Milne, we discover successive Western Australian Health Departments have not engaged in any wide community discussion about the climate change challenges lying ahead for our public health.  Dr George Crisp from Doctors for the Environment reminds us that the recent "Sustainable Health Review" only reports on health finances, but not the impacts of rising temperatures, and changing climate, on vulnerable people in our society. We consider the young, the old, the sick, those living in already hot climates around the state, and those who live in cheap housing without insulation, unable to use expensive cooling, if they have air conditioning at all; Liz Hannah reminds us that there are challenges ahead as farmers, firefighters, medical teams, emergency services and businesses have mind and body tested in climate emergencies. All we need in WA is a health plan for climate change. (Photo: A. Glamorgan) Dr Liz Hannah, Senator Christine Milne, Dr George Crisp