The intersection of climate change with the era of COVID‐19

Abstract

The purpose of this integrative review is to examine recent literature on the intersection of SARS‐CoV‐2 (COVID‐19 novel coronavirus) and climate change that will lead to a greater understanding of the complexities of the urgent pandemic linked with the emerging climate crisis. A literature search for peer‐reviewed, English language, literature published since the pandemic emerged was conducted using Cumulated Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), PubMed, and the Cochrane Library. The final sample yielded a total of 22 commentaries, editorials, discussion papers, and a research study that explicitly addressed the intersection of COVID‐19 and climate change. Sixty articles emerged in the initial review of the intersection of the COVID‐19 pandemic and climate change with the final yield of 22 articles deemed valid for inclusion after full text review. With the emergence of COVID‐19 and scholarly discourse that addresses the intersection of the pandemic with climate change, key issues emerged that intersect with policy /advocacy, social justice, and nursing's public health role in clinical practice, education, policy/advocacy, and research/scholarship. Five themes that emerged included the role of public health in COVID‐19 and climate change efforts; global approach addressing human‐environment issues; intersection of COVID‐19 and climate change from a community and global perspective; impacts of COVID‐19, climate change and the environment and professional associations and specialty organizations’ views and responsibilities with a lens on COVID‐19 and climate change . Despite the importance of addressing racial inequities as well as systemic and structural racism that impacts those most affected by climate change and pandemics such as COVID‐19, no literature addressed this topic. Public health nursing has a critical role in addressing climate change and the pandemic response to COVID 19 in the 21st century.

Epithelial barrier hypothesis: Effect of the external exposome on the microbiome and epithelial barriers in allergic disease

“…It is even claimed that climate change may have played a pivotal role in the emergence of COVID‐19 by forcing species to change their habitats and their geographic range, and serving as a tool to bring wild animals closer to humans and farm animals 57 . It was mentioned that SARS‐CoV‐2 cell entry factor (SCEF) is important for the entrance of COVID‐19 virus to the upper airway epithelium, while in smokers it was also shown that SARS‐CoV‐2 can easily penetrate both the upper and lower airways epithelium 58 .…”

“…It is even claimed that climate change may have played a pivotal role in the emergence of COVID‐19 by forcing species to change their habitats and their geographic range, and serving as a tool to bring wild animals closer to humans and farm animals. 57 It was mentioned that SARS‐CoV‐2 cell entry factor (SCEF) is important for the entrance of COVID‐19 virus to the upper airway epithelium, while in smokers it was also shown that SARS‐CoV‐2 can easily penetrate both the upper and lower airways epithelium. 58 Moreover, a significant positive correlation between COVID‐19 infection and airborne pollen concentration was reported by Damialis et al The authors have mentioned that the interaction of the coronavirus and pandemic viruses with similar potential in the future may be exacerbated by the increased abundances of airborne pollen, because pollen exposure weakens antiviral immune response.…”

Does the COVID-19 pandemic derail US-China collaboration on carbon neutrality research? A survey

“…Because of the complexities of COVID-19, scholars have focused on research on the intersection of COVID-19 and climate change with a large number of related studies. For example, Zang, et al reviewed the literature on the intersection of the COVID-19 and climate change to better understand the complexities of emergency epidemics associated with the climate crisis [ 18 ]. Ruiu et al summarized the similarities and differences between two global threats, climate change and COVID-19 [ 19 , 20 ].…”

Kako se environmentalisti nose s (još jednom) globalnom krizom: otpornost, ranjivost i intersekcijske krize

“…Since the 1980s, EM has expanded its interest in environmental issues by linking them with issues of social justice, thus combining issues of conservation and protection with building the resilience of human communities, especially that of marginalized groups (Roser-Renouf et al, 2014; Dawson, 2010;Wahlstrӧm et al, 2010). In that sense, environmental justice -and in recent times climate justice -bring the movement's intersectional quality into focus, especially regarding complex and longterm interactions between society and nature, such as those involved in the current pandemic (Mulholland, 2020;Zang et al, 2021). EM also calls for broad systemic change as a solution not only to climate change but also to intersecting crises of our time as well (Mulholland, The fruitful and complex theoretical contributions of the literature on social resilience -despite being difficult to operationalize -point to the conclusion that resilience is best conceptualized through analyzing a specific social system and its environment.…”