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"A sense of despair": The mental health cost of unchecked climate change
CBS News ^ | February 27, 2017 | By SHANIKA GUNARATNA

Posted on 02/27/2017 12:56:28 PM PST by Oldeconomybuyer

Climate change is taking an obvious physical toll on earth: from depleted farmland to the rise of toxic pollution to the degradation of long-stable ecosystems to the disappearance of biodiversity and endangered species.

But looking beyond the physical, experts are also trying to sound the alarm about the quieter, more insidious effects of climate change: namely, that global warming is threatening the emotional health of humans worldwide.

“We see a sense of despair that sets in as inevitably Mother Nature, who we think of as our nurturing force, tells us we’re not going to be able to survive the conditions she’s set for us,” Dr. Lise Van Wanker, a practicing psychiatrist and expert on the dangers of climate change on mental health.

Study after study shows that climate change has led to an increased burden of psychological disease and injury worldwide, particularly in developing countries.

What’s behind this link? For starters, climate change has normalized extreme weather events. These events, including floods, tornadoes, fires, drought, and sea level rise, are known to trigger mental health problems including post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, the abuse of alcohol and drugs, and more.

Extreme weather has a particularly disturbing link to increased aggression. In 2013, researchers from Princeton University and the University of California-Berkeley found that even slight spikes in temperature and precipitation have increased the risk of personal violence and social upheaval throughout human history.

Climate change carries enormous political risk for the 21st century, Dr. Van Wanker warned.

“In times of peril and scarcity, people regress,” she said. “They turn to what they perceive as strong leaders to protect them, and are willing to give up their freedoms and values in exchange for perceived security.”

(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: climategate; failure; fakescience; hoax; socialism
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To: PROCON

He looks like he’s had too much sun.


41 posted on 02/27/2017 1:36:19 PM PST by stillfree? (Sooooo Deplorable, but more irredeemable.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

I don’t know...this is all a pain in the butt, having to constantly fight against these moonbats who believe in this AGW crap, but...it is almost worth it to know it causes them mental anguish.


42 posted on 02/27/2017 1:38:04 PM PST by rlmorel (Orwell described Liberals when he wrote of those who "repudiate morality while laying claim to it.")
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To: Bubba_Leroy

“People are gonna panic.There’s gonna be gold riots, atonal music... political chaos, mass suicide. Right? It’s Germany before Hitler. You can see that. Jesus, I don’t know what people are gonna do... when a six-pack of Budweisers costs $1,200. That’ll be awful.”
“The In Laws”. Watch for the atonal music. Then it will be really bad.


43 posted on 02/27/2017 1:38:43 PM PST by freefdny
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To: Milton Miteybad
"...Mother Nature, who we think of as our nurturing force..."

And people on the left disagree and ridicule us when we point out that this is not science to them, but religion.

44 posted on 02/27/2017 1:40:02 PM PST by rlmorel (Orwell described Liberals when he wrote of those who "repudiate morality while laying claim to it.")
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To: JBW1949

Ellison, is that you?


45 posted on 02/27/2017 1:40:52 PM PST by rlmorel (Orwell described Liberals when he wrote of those who "repudiate morality while laying claim to it.")
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To: Donald Rumsfeld Fan

One thing I learned about Polar Bears on melting ice flows is that they can swim 60 to 100 miles!

These pictures are always facing out to sea. Maybe the bear need only to swim 10 feet to safety.

The bear looks very COLD. Someone get him/her a blanket!


46 posted on 02/27/2017 1:42:23 PM PST by faucetman (Just the facts, ma'am, Just the facts)
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To: rlmorel

Huh??????


47 posted on 02/27/2017 1:43:58 PM PST by JBW1949 (I'm really PC....PATRIOTICALLY CORRECT!!!!)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Global Warming - the only field of science that has its own mental disease.


48 posted on 02/27/2017 1:44:09 PM PST by agere_contra
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To: agere_contra

With all these drought warning californicates are having to learn how to swim.


49 posted on 02/27/2017 1:47:51 PM PST by oldasrocks (rump)
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To: JBW1949

Heh, just joking, wasn’t Keith Ellison the one who recently was talking about the Nazis attacking Pearl Harbor?


50 posted on 02/27/2017 1:48:37 PM PST by rlmorel (Orwell described Liberals when he wrote of those who "repudiate morality while laying claim to it.")
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To: rlmorel

That’s right, I believe...I DO remember Maxine Waters saying Russia had invaded Korea...LOL


51 posted on 02/27/2017 1:50:58 PM PST by JBW1949 (I'm really PC....PATRIOTICALLY CORRECT!!!!)
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To: Blood of Tyrants
I am having an extreme weather event here in Central NH. The four feet of snow in my yard is down to two feet, my heating bill is pointed South, thank God for Al Gore.

My only fear is a March Lion and a blizzard of 98. If this happens I am going to buy a Chac Mol and sacrifice him in the Aztec Fashion.

52 posted on 02/27/2017 1:51:26 PM PST by Little Bill (o)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

I knew right away that these people were clueless when all the models held the sun output as a constant. Keeping the most sensitive item a constant and applying all change to CO2 is modeling heresy. Since the theory is entirely based on modeling; the fact that none of the models have matched empirical evidence (even the manipulated data) renders the theory a bust.


53 posted on 02/27/2017 2:09:28 PM PST by Revolutionary ("Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition!")
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

What depleted farmland? Agricultural production has never been higher world wide. I stopped reading right there.


54 posted on 02/27/2017 2:11:37 PM PST by gunsmithkat (There is no such thing as Too Many Guns)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Life is hard.

It’s even harder if you’re a whinging snowflake, who becomes emotionally ‘triggered’ by every word or thought that isn’t in perfect alignment with your delicate, utopian worldview.


55 posted on 02/27/2017 2:14:34 PM PST by Windflier (Pitchforks and torches ripen on the vine. Left too long, they become black rifles.)
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To: JBW1949

I swear, it is insanity. I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but these people are absolute butter knives with the edges ground down flat, and...they have power over us!


56 posted on 02/27/2017 2:21:03 PM PST by rlmorel (Orwell described Liberals when he wrote of those who "repudiate morality while laying claim to it.")
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To: rlmorel

I agree...How do these people stay in office???


57 posted on 02/27/2017 2:27:00 PM PST by JBW1949 (I'm really PC....PATRIOTICALLY CORRECT!!!!)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

According to Jerry Brown, all the newspapers, and 97% of scientists, there will never be any rain in California ever again. According to an article I read last year.


58 posted on 02/27/2017 2:29:48 PM PST by Arthur McGowan (https://youtu.be/IYUYya6bPGw)
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To: Red Badger

That’s a name right out of a Fox sitcom.


59 posted on 02/27/2017 2:31:45 PM PST by Arthur McGowan (https://youtu.be/IYUYya6bPGw)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

My personal opinion - living n Minnesota for all my life - usually about this time of year I begin a sort of mini-depression due to cabin fever. The long cold weather is still lingering into March and gray skies reign supreme.

But —— But, not this year. I am supremely happy that we are nearing March and the weather has been quite pleasant so far. The way I see it, only the ice fishermen are unhappy with our mild winter this year.

And as for global warming it is delighting me and our fuel bills are going down. I would think the alarmists about AGW would cheer that our use of carbon based fuels is lower this winter. So, perhaps the depression they are having is that no one else is depressed.


60 posted on 02/27/2017 2:47:32 PM PST by Gumdrop
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