Social resilience and climate change: findings from community listening sessions

Abstract

Background: The mental health effects of climate change include not only those directly related to the traumatic consequences of severe weather events, but also the anxiety, fear, and distress associated with slower-moving stressors, perceptions, and attempts to understand and respond appropriately to climate change and its implications. The effects of climate change on mental health and wellbeing are not isolated, they interact with other social and environmental determinants of health including race, income, and housing stability. The modern biomedical model and dominant cultural values in the USA have placed an emphasis on the individual in terms of mental health and resilience. Mainstream mental health interventions have focused on individual psychotherapy and pharmaceuticals. These approaches, while important, often ignore the social determinants of mental health that are particularly important to climate-vulnerable communities including systemic oppression, social cohesion, stable income, cultural pride, and sense of hope or spirituality. Many concepts related to social resilience do not consider equity and power. To bring in the perspectives of communities affected by inequities, the Oregon Climate and Health Program partnered with community health workers to host listening sessions with different cultural groups across the state. Methods: In 2019, four community listening sessions were convened on the topics of climate change and social resilience: with a Latinx community (facilitated in Spanish), with African-American and African immigrant communities, with an urban Native American community, and with a white community. Each session had about 12 participants and most were identified as leaders, connectors, or community health workers in their communities. We analysed the findings with a theoretical framework used for understanding social capital: bonding, bridging, and linking. Social capital acknowledges the importance of power in social relationships and how these can bring about change in policy, systems, and environments. In choosing this framework, we acknowledge that climate resilience is not about returning to or maintaining an ideal state. Rather, it is a dynamic process of honouring and integrating diverse solutions and approaches that build on community strengths and enable transformative, equitable change. Findings: Social inequities and political polarisation were strong themes that emerged across all community listening sessions. In the sessions, community members talked about the connection between individual mental health resilience and the broader community and climate resilience. They emphasised the importance of meeting basic needs, such as affordable housing and food security, and validated the importance of trusting relationships, cultural traditions, and diversity. Evidence shows that these kinds of community strengths lead to greater social cohesion and stronger social networks, which act as buffers against negative health impacts of climate disasters and help communities recover more quickly after a disaster. Findings helped to inform a 2021 study on how climate change affects youth depression and the development of a new pilot project with Latinx and indigenous community leaders. Recommended actions were also prioritised in Oregon's 2021 Climate Change Adaptation Framework, including the use of community-based participatory research methods, and building capacity of community-based organisations. Interpretation: Government agencies often see themselves as distinct and separate from communities; however, they are a key part of a community's social networks. This research resulted in recommendations for how government agencies and other organisations with power can act as social capital builders, especially in communities on the front lines of climate change. Such actions include making and following through on commitments to equity, investing in community engagement and bridging skills within the workforce, and expanding climate-related programmes to include social capital strategies and measures as necessary co-benefits of any climate resilience investment. Funding: US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention Climate and Health Program.