A blueprint for strengthening climate and health literacy through professional adaptability

Abstract

Responding effectively to intensifying climate change hazards to protect human health in personal and professional settings is an urgent and pressing challenge. This will require collaboration and subject matter expertise of people across the life course and occupations. In this perspective piece, we build on a previously published compilation of climate and health literacy elements to explore tangible opportunities to strengthen climate and health understanding among individuals spanning educational levels, professional settings, and societal needs. Educational materials addressing climate change and health linkages have historically focused on K-12, college, post-graduate education, and continuing medical education, with less attention devoted to reaching students in trade schools and other professional settings. Here, we outline a flexible blueprint for strengthening climate and health literacy among all people by targeting education in a way that is relevant for each age group or profession. In particular, we discuss the idea of professional adaptability as a way to design practical climate and health training for people currently in the workforce.

The importance of teaching climate-health literacy in psychotherapeutic training and continuing education

“…“Based on our thematic analysis, we define climate and health literacy as the degree to which an individual understands the complex relationship between climate change and human health; a climate health–literate individual can recognize direct and indirect linkages between climate change and health, communicate risks, assess data, comprehend uncertainty, and make informed and responsible personal decisions or advocate for broader policies that protect health.” ( Limaye et al , 2020 , p. 2185; see also Grabow et al , 2023 , p. 2).…”

“…), and 7) Complexity (the enormous complexity of the connection between human health and climate change, which varies over space and time). The first two elements are so-called functional literacy, the next three elements are intermediate literacy, and the last two elements are advanced literacy ( Limaye et al, 2020 ; Grabow et al, 2023 ).…”

“…The seminar should provide a broad but not necessarily profound knowledge about the connections between climate change and human health. Part of the lecture should contain explicit information about the impact of climate change on mental health since the target group consists of psychotherapists ( Limaye et al , 2020 ; Grabow et al , 2023 ). Case studies from practice are useful.…”

Scientific Mapping of Publication on Climate Change Education (CCE) using Bibliometric Analysis

“…Effective climate change education goes beyond mere knowledge acquisition (Cordero et al, 2020;Grabow et al, 2023); it seeks to develop a sense of responsibility, agency, and sustainability in learners. Additionally, it strives to encourage critical thinking and problem-solving skills to address this complex global issue (Oberman & Sainz, 2021).…”