Climate change adaptation at the intersection of food and health

An intergenerational reading of climate change-health concern nexus: a qualitative study of the Millennials' and Gen Z participants' perceptions

BACKGROUND

The study of climate change through a generational lens is meaningful when one considers the distinct attitudes, behaviors, values, and motivations of each generation. Individuals born between 1980 and 1999, referred to as the Millennial Generation (Millennials) and individuals born up to five years before or after 2000, referred to as Generation Z (Gen Z), may differ widely in their views, values, attitudes, and behaviors. This may lead to conflicts between these two cohorts. As Gen Z enters the labor market, their first-level supervisors will be, in many cases, the Millennials, who may view the topic of climate change-health concern nexus very differently than their Gen Z subordinates. Considering the perspectives of each generation may offer insights on how to engage them to act in an environmentally responsible way to counteract climate change effects.

OBJECTIVE

The study reveals similarities and differences in how Millennials and Gen Z perceive the climate change-health concern nexus, which illuminates the understanding of the potential generational conflicts and the critical points where intervention is needed.

METHOD

Interview data from 41 participants were analyzed via thematic analysis using the Quirkos software program. Reporting is in accordance with the COREQ guidelines.

RESULTS

The interview questions elicited responses related to five dimensions: (i) Views of individual and community health; (ii) Knowledge around climate change; (iii) Perceived health impact; (iv) Attitudes towards climate change; (v) Behaviors related to climate change. The findings revealed a set of commonalities and differences in understanding the climate change-health concern nexus between the participants representative of each of the generations examined. One main result is that while most interviewees perceived changes in summer and winter temperatures, they failed to articulate how climate change affected their health.

CONCLUSION

Thematic analysis revealed that the commonalities of views outweigh the differences between the two generations. A relevant remark is that participants can be described rather as "observers" than "players" since they do not tend to see themselves (through their behavior and their contribution) as active participants in the goal to fight climate change. Consequently, both generations undergo what Stephen Gardiner [1] called "intergenerational buck-passing."

Linking Climate Change Adaptation Strategies and Nutrition Outcomes: A Conceptual Framework

BACKGROUND

The relationship between climate adaptation strategies and nutrition security is poorly understood and often unclear. Although several adaptation strategies have been implemented to mitigate the impact of climate change, there is still a lack of conclusive evidence or studies on the interrelationships between adopted climate change adaptation strategies and nutrition outcomes.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed at developing a conceptual framework that links climate change, adaptation strategies and nutrition and show the indicators that can be used to assess the impact of climate adaptation strategies on nutrition.

METHODOLOGY

The proposed conceptual framework was developed through a literature review.

RESULTS

A generic conceptual framework that could be used to assess the impact of adopted climate change adaptation strategies on nutrition outcomes was developed. The framework consists of 5 key elements: Agro-food system, context characteristics, adaptation strategies, climatic shocks and stress, and system output. The principles used in designing the conceptual framework include systems approach, contingency theory, and system output.

CONCLUSION

The developed framework offers a channel to evaluate adopted climate change adaptation strategies and their impact on nutrition outcomes. Such a conceptual framework can also be used in selecting and identifying more suitable climate adaptation strategies given specific contextual environments.

Increasing City Resilience through Urban Agriculture: Challenges and Solutions in the Global North

Cities, which now host the majority of the global population, are vulnerable to environmental and socio-economic disturbances, which are likely to increase in number and severity in the near future. Urban agriculture (UA) could help increase the resilience of cities to a range of pressures and acute shocks by improving food security and public health, building social capital, and promoting circular economies. However, comprehensive assessments of its potential are still lacking. Here, we use a systematic review of the literature on UA in the global North to identify factors that determine its success in providing resilience benefits, explore challenges that can limit this, and develop a conceptual model to highlight the ways in which it could be enhanced through research, policy, and practice. We define the success of UA in increasing city resilience as determined by five factors, which in turn depend on the amount of institutional and public support for UA, the presence of a sufficient knowledge base, communication and collaboration among different actors, and resourcefulness in finding alternative ways to use space and other resources efficiently. We close with a discussion of specific directions for research and practice based on the conceptual model developed here.

The affordability of a healthy and sustainable diet: an Australian case study

BACKGROUND/AIMS

EAT-Lancet Commission's Planetary Health Diet proposed a diet that integrates nutrition and sustainability considerations, however its affordability is unknown in many country-specific contexts, including Australia. The aim of this study is to develop a healthy and sustainable food basket modelled on the Planetary Health Diet to determine the affordability of the Planetary Health Diet basket across various socio-economic groups, and compare this affordability with a food basket modelled on the typical current diet, in an Australian setting.

METHODS

An Australian-specific Planetary Health Diet basket was developed for a reference household (2 adults and 2 children) modelled on the Planetary Health Diet reference diet, and compared to a previously-developed Typical Australian Diet basket. The cost of each food basket was determined by online supermarket shopping surveys in low, medium and high socio-economic areas in each Australian state. Basket affordability was determined for the reference household by comparing the basket cost to disposable income in each socio-economic group in each state. Mann-Whitney U tests then determined if there were significant differences between the median costs and the median affordability of both baskets.

RESULTS

The Planetary Health Diet basket was shown to be less expensive and more affordable than the Typical Australian Diet basket nationally, in all metropolitan areas, in all socio-economic groups across Australia (median cost: Planetary Health Diet = AUD$188.21, Typical Australian Diet = AUD$224.36; median affordability: Planetary Health Diet = 13%, Typical Australian Diet = 16%; p = < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

This study showed the Planetary Health Diet to be more affordable than the Typical Australian Diet for metropolitan-dwelling Australians.

IMPLICATIONS

These results can help to inform public health and food policy aimed at achieving a healthy and sustainable future for all Australians, including reductions in overweight/obesity rates and increased food security.

The Climate Change, Food Security and Human Health Nexus in Canada: A Framework to Protect Population Health

Climate change impacts on the Canadian food system pose risks to human health. Little attention has been paid to the climate change, food security, and human health nexus, resulting in a number of knowledge gaps regarding food system components that are most vulnerable to climate change. The lack of understanding of key dynamics and possible future impacts challenges the ability of public health officials and partners in other sectors to prepare Canadians for future health risks. A series of literature reviews were conducted to establish the relationship between climate change, food security, and human health, and to identify vulnerabilities within the Canadian food system. Evidence suggests that key activities within the food system are vulnerable to climate change. The pathways in which climate change impacts travel through the food system and affect the critical dimensions of food security to influence human health outcomes are complex. Climate-related disruptions in the food system can indirectly impact human health by diminishing food security, which is a key determinant of health. Human health may also be directly affected by the physical effects of climate change on the food system, primarily related to the impacts on nutrition and foodborne illnesses. In this study, we propose a novel analytical framework to study and respond to the climate change, food security, and human health nexus. This work is intended to help public health officials, researchers, and relevant stakeholders investigate and understand current and future risks, and inform adaptation efforts to protect the health of Canadians.

The fruit and vegetable intake of young Australian adults: a population perspective

OBJECTIVE

To examine intakes and variety of fruit and vegetables consumed by Australian young adults, also assessing differences by meal occasion and sociodemographic characteristics.

DESIGN

Secondary analysis of cross-sectional 24 h recall data collected through the 2011-12 National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey. Crude means and proportions consuming fruits and vegetables were calculated. Pearson χ 2 tests, Kruskal-Wallis analyses and linear regression models were used to assess differences in mean intakes by age, BMI and sociodemographic variables. The variety eaten was determined based on the number of fruit and vegetable subgroups consumed.

SETTING

Representative sample of metropolitan and rural areas across Australia.

SUBJECTS

Respondents aged 18-34 years were included (n 2397).

RESULTS

Mean daily intake of fruit (128 g/0·9 servings) and vegetables (205 g/2·7 servings) was lower than the minimum recommended intake set at 2 and 5 servings, respectively. Age was positively associated with fruit and vegetable intake (P=0·002, P<0·001), with 18-24-year-olds reporting the poorest vegetable variety compared with 25-29- and 30-34-year-olds (P=0·002). When controlling for total energy, males consumed less vegetables than females (P=0·002). A large proportion of the 15 % of respondents who consumed adequate amounts of fruits and vegetables on the day prior to the survey reported intake across all meal occasions (P<0·001).

CONCLUSIONS

Fruit and vegetable intake is suboptimal among Australian young adults. An age-appropriate campaign is recommended to target increased consumption, particularly for those aged 18-24 years, with opportunity to promote increased variety and consumption across the day.

Bread and Roses: A Gender Perspective on Environmental Justice and Public Health

Gender continues to be a relatively marginal issue in environmental justice debates and yet it remains an important aspect of injustice. To help redress the balance, this article explores women’s experience of environmental justice through a review of the existing literature and the author’s prior qualitative research, as well as her experience of environmental activism. The analysis confirms that women tend to experience inequitable environmental burdens (distributional injustice); and are less likely than men to have control over environmental decisions (procedural injustice), both of which impact on their health (substantive injustice). It is argued that these injustices occur because women generally have lower incomes than men and are perceived as having less social status than their male counterparts as a result of entwined and entrenched capitalist and patriarchal processes. In the light of this analysis, it is proposed that environmental justice research, teaching, policy and practice should be made more gender aware and feminist orientated. This could support cross-cutting debates and activities in support of the radical social change necessary to bring about greater social and environmental justice more generally.

Changes in Food Intake in Australia: Comparing the 1995 and 2011 National Nutrition Survey Results Disaggregated into Basic Foods

As nations seek to address obesity and diet-related chronic disease, understanding shifts in food intake over time is an imperative. However, quantifying intake of basic foods is not straightforward because of the diversity of raw and cooked wholefoods, processed foods and mixed dishes actually consumed. In this study, data from the Australian national nutrition surveys of 1995 and 2011, each involving more than 12,000 individuals and covering more than 4500 separate foods, were coherently disaggregated into basic foods, with cooking and processing factors applied where necessary. Although Australians are generally not eating in a manner consistent with national dietary guidelines, there have been several positive changes. Australians are eating more whole fruit, a greater diversity of vegetables, more beans, peas and pulses, less refined sugar, and they have increased their preference for brown and wholegrain cereals. Adult Australians have also increased their intake of nuts and seeds. Fruit juice consumption markedly declined, especially for younger Australians. Cocoa consumption increased and shifts in dairy product intake were mixed, reflecting one of several important differences between age and gender cohorts. This study sets the context for more detailed research at the level of specific foods to understand individual and household differences.

The effect of temperature on different Salmonella serotypes during warm seasons in a Mediterranean climate city, Adelaide, Australia

Changing trends in foodborne disease are influenced by many factors, including temperature. Globally and in Australia, warmer ambient temperatures are projected to rise if climate change continues. Salmonella spp. are a temperature-sensitive pathogen and rising temperature can have a substantial effect on disease burden affecting human health. We examined the relationship between temperature and Salmonella spp. and serotype notifications in Adelaide, Australia. Time-series Poisson regression models were fit to estimate the effect of temperature during warmer months on Salmonella spp. and serotype cases notified from 1990 to 2012. Long-term trends, seasonality, autocorrelation and lagged effects were included in the statistical models. Daily Salmonella spp. counts increased by 1·3% [incidence rate ratio (IRR) 1·013, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1·008-1·019] per 1 °C rise in temperature in the warm season with greater increases observed in specific serotype and phage-type cases ranging from 3·4% (IRR 1·034, 95% CI 1·008-1·061) to 4·4% (IRR 1·044, 95% CI 1·024-1·064). We observed increased cases of S. Typhimurium PT9 and S. Typhimurium PT108 notifications above a threshold of 39 °C. This study has identified the impact of warm season temperature on different Salmonella spp. strains and confirms higher temperature has a greater effect on phage-type notifications. The findings will contribute targeted information for public health policy interventions, including food safety programmes during warmer weather.

Formulating policy activities to promote healthy and sustainable diets

Objective

To develop a policy formulation tool for strategically informing food and nutrition policy activities to promote healthy and sustainable diets (HSD).

Design

A policy formulation tool consisting of two complementary components was developed. First, a conceptual framework of the environment–public health nutrition relationship was constructed to characterise and conceptualise the food system problem. Second, an ‘Orders of Food Systems Change’ schema drawing on systems dynamics thinking was developed to identify, assess and propose policy options to redesign food systems.

Setting

Food and nutrition policy activities to promote HSD have been politicised, fragmented and lacking a coherent conceptual and strategic focus to tackle complex food system challenges.

Results

The tool’s conceptual framework component comprises three integrated dimensions: (i) a structure built around the environment and public health nutrition relationship that is mediated via the food system; (ii) internal mechanisms that operate through system dynamics; and (iii) external interactions that frame its nature and a scope within ecological parameters. The accompanying schema is structured around three orders of change distinguished by contrasting ideological perspectives on the type and extent of change needed to ‘solve’ the HSD problem.

Conclusions

The conceptual framework’s systems analysis of the environment–public health nutrition relationship sets out the food system challenges for HSD. The schema helps account for political realities in policy making and is a key link to operationalise the framework’s concepts to actions aimed at redesigning food systems. In combination they provide a policy formulation tool to strategically inform policy activities to redesign food systems and promote HSD.

An integrated approach to identifying and characterising resilient urban food systems to promote population health in a changing climate

Objective

To determine key points of intervention in urban food systems to improve the climate resilience, equity and healthfulness of the whole system.

Design

The paper brings together evidence from a 3-year, Australia-based mixed-methods research project focused on climate change adaptation, cities, food systems and health. In an integrated analysis of the three research domains – encompassing the production, distribution and consumption sectors of the food chain – the paper examines the efficacy of various food subsystems (industrial, alternative commercial and civic) in achieving climate resilience and good nutrition.

Setting

Greater Western Sydney, Australia.

Subjects

Primary producers, retailers and consumers in Western Sydney.

Results

This overarching analysis of the tripartite study found that: (i) industrial food production systems can be more environmentally sustainable than alternative systems, indicating the importance of multiple food subsystems for food security; (ii) a variety of food distributors stocking healthy and sustainable items is required to ensure that these items are accessible, affordable and available to all; and (iii) it is not enough that healthy and sustainable foods are produced or sold, consumers must also want to consume them. In summary, a resilient urban food system requires that healthy and sustainable food items are produced, that consumers can attain them and that they actually wish to purchase them.

Conclusions

This capstone paper found that the interconnected nature of the different sectors in the food system means that to improve environmental sustainability, equity and population health outcomes, action should focus on the system as a whole and not just on any one sector.

Progress in Island Health in the Asia-Pacific Region

The Asia-Pacific region contains many islands, perhaps up to 100 000. The provision of public health and health care to small isolated groups poses particular challenges in the 21st century. The health of island populations has improved over the past 3 decades, but maintaining and improving current levels of health is made more difficult by emigration and the difficulty of maintaining communications.

The impact of drought on the association between food security and mental health in a nationally representative Australian sample

Background

The association between food insecurity and mental health is established. Increasingly, associations between drought and mental health and drought and food insecurity have been observed in a number of countries. The impact of drought on the association between food insecurity and mental health has received little attention.

Methods

Population-based study using data from a nationally representative panel survey of Australian adults in which participants report behaviour, health, social, economic and demographic information annually. Exposure to drought was modelled using annual rainfall data during Australia’s ‘Big Dry’. Regression modelling examined associations between drought and three indicative measures of food insecurity and mental health, controlling for confounding factors.

Results

People who reported missing meals due to financial stress reported borderline moderate/high distress levels. People who consumed below-average levels of core foods reported more distress than those who consumed above the average level, while people consuming discretionary foods above the average level reported greater distress than those consuming below the threshold. In all drought exposure categories, people missing meals due to cost reported higher psychological distress than those not missing meals. Compared to drought-unadjusted psychological distress levels, in most drought categories, people consuming higher-than-average discretionary food levels reported higher levels of distress.

Conclusions

Exposure to drought moderates the association between measures of food insecurity and psychological distress, generally increasing the distress level. Climate adaptation strategies that consider social, nutrition and health impacts are needed.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2458-14-1102) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.