Dr Penelope Jones (she/her) Senior Research Fellow in Environmental Health & Senior Lecturer in Biological Sciences, Menzies Institute for Medical Research & School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania Did you know that smoke from bushfires can affect health conditions ranging from diabetes to heart disease, stroke, asthma and COPD? Do you know where to get your local air quality information, and what the numbers mean for you? Do you know what supports and strategies can support your mental health during and after a bushfire emergency? If any of these questions seem relevant to ..read more

Fiona Armstrong Executive Director, Climate and Health Alliance; Honorary Associate, Department of Public Health, La Trobe University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Australia finally has a net zero plan at the Commonwealth level. But so far, health hasn’t been factored into Australia’s national climate response. The federal government has yet to announce plans specific to the sector or, more broadly, the health of Australians. This is despite experts warning climate inaction is putting lives at risk and could overw ..read more

Scott McAlister Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne Alexandra Barratt Professor of Public Health, University of Sydney This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. While we think of carbon emissions coming from manufacturing and agriculture, we don’t often think of those arising from health care. In Australia, health care is responsible for 7% of national carbon emissions, while globally, health care is responsible for 4.4% of emissions. If global health care was a country, it would be the world’s fifth largest emitter ..read more

Gabi Mocatta, Deakin University and University of Tasmania Rob White, University of Tasmania This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Universities are vital hubs of research and teaching on climate change. As large organisations, they also have significant emissions, which contribute to our climate crisis. Universities should therefore lead global action to limit climate change. How best can they do this? It’s Global Climate Change Week. This annual event aims to encourage universities – staff and students – to engage with e ..read more

Celia McMichael Senior Lecturer in Geography, The University of Melbourne Ilan Kelman Professor of Disasters and Health, UCL Shouro Dasgupta Lecturer in Environmental Economics, Università Ca'Foscari Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson Senior Researcher, Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), United Nations University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Climate change is resulting in profound, immediate and worsening health impacts, and no country is immune, a major new report from more than 120 researchers has declare ..read more

Dr Annabelle Workman, University of Tasmania This week, a climate change report was released: the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) from Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). What does this report mean for the annual climate change negotiations in November?  And how can those in our academic communities demonstrate climate active leadership in the lead-up to the Conference of the Parties (COP) meeting in Glasgow?   Photo by Matthew TenBruggencate on Unsplash Explainer: Key terms and definitions for the international climate change meetings IPCC: The In ..read more