"How do climate and environmental changes affect mental health, and how do we communicate the seriousness of the situation?"
Dag Elgesem participated as a main speaker at a professional meeting on how climate change affects our mental health, arranged by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health on 31st March 2022.
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On Thursday, 31st March 2022, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) invited to an open professional meeting titled «Hva gjør klima- og miljøendringene med den psykiske helsa, og hvordan formidler vi alvoret?» (English: "How do climate and environmental changes affect mental health, and how do we communicate the seriousness of the situation?"). Dag Elgesem, member of the LINGCLIM research group, participated as a main speaker for the topic «Kan mediene bidra til å øke folks engasjement for klima?» (English: "Can media contribute to raise people's engagement for the climate?").
There is no doubt that profound sociatal change is needed in order to mitigate and adapt to climate changes. All over the world, extreme weather phenomenons, destroyed landscapes and residential areas that have become uninhabitable are reported. While there is a lot of attention for the physical consequences of climate change, there is relatively little knowledge on how climate change affects our mental health. The meeting organized by FHI gave the opportunity to discuss how research and media can communicate climate change with the aim to motivate the public to support measures that could solve the challenges.
In his presentation, Elgesem, who analyzes Norwegian journalists' attitudes towards climate, called to the media to report more on climate and health, with regard to both internal and external factors that influence journalists' role in society.
Besides Elgesem, Kristian Rødland (chief physician at FHI), Thea Gregersen (ph.D-candidate at the Center for Climate and Energy Transformation and at the Institute for Psychosocial Science), and Turid Sylte (journalist at the Norwegian newspaer "Vårt Land") contributed as main speakers. The meeting and following debate was led by Ågot Aakra (director at the Climate and Environment Departement at FHI). A recorded version of the meeting is available online: https://youtu.be/LaAoUp4Nfic