“From this place and of this place:” Climate change, sense of place, and health in Nunatsiavut, Canada

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.03.043

Social Science & Medicine

Volume 75, Issue 3, August 2012, Pages 538-547

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.03.043 Get rights and content

Abstract

As climate change impacts are felt around the globe, people are increasingly exposed to changes in weather patterns, wildlife and vegetation, and water and food quality, access and availability in their local regions. These changes can impact human health and well-being in a variety of ways: increased risk of foodborne and waterborne diseases; increased frequency and distribution of vector-borne disease; increased mortality and injury due to extreme weather events and heat waves; increased respiratory and cardiovascular disease due to changes in air quality and increased allergens in the air; and increased susceptibility to mental and emotional health challenges. While climate change is a global phenomenon, the impacts are experienced most acutely in place; as such, a sense of place, place-attachment, and place-based identities are important indicators for climate-related health and adaptation. Representing one of the first qualitative case studies to examine the connections among climate change, a changing sense of place, and health in an Inuit context, this research draws data from a multi-year community-driven case study situated in the Inuit community of Rigolet, Nunatsiavut, Canada. Data informing this paper were drawn from the narrative analysis of 72 in-depth interviews conducted from November 2009 to October 2010, as well as from the descriptive analysis of 112 questionnaires from a survey in October 2010 (95% response rate). The findings illustrated that climate change is negatively affecting feelings of place attachment by disrupting hunting, fishing, foraging, trapping, and traveling, and changing local landscapes—changes which subsequently impact physical, mental, and emotional health and well-being. These results also highlight the need to develop context-specific climate-health planning and adaptation programs, and call for an understanding of place-attachment as a vital indicator of health and well-being and for climate change to be framed as an important determinant of health.

Highlights

► Climatic and environmental changes are being experienced most rapidly by Indigenous populations, such as Canadian Inuit. ► Climatic and environmental changes are altering local ecosystems in Northern Canada, negatively impacting a sense of place. ► Climatic and environmental changes and altered sense of place impacts physical, mental, and emotional health and well-being. ► Climate-health research needs place-based research and programming to gather localized knowledge for health adaptation. ► Place-attachment is a vital indicator of health and well-being and climate change is an important determinant of health.

Section snippets

Introduction: climate change and place-based health

As climatic and environmental changes are increasingly felt throughout many regions globally (IPCC, 2007a, 2007b), peoples throughout the world are increasingly exposed to changes and disturbances in weather, wildlife and vegetation patterns, and water and food quality, access, and availability in their local regions (Ford, Berrang-Ford, King, & Furgal, 2010; Higginbotham, Connor, Albrecht, Freeman, & Agho, 2007; IPCC, 2007a, 2007b; Speldewinde, Cook, Davies, & Weinstein, 2009; Tong & Soskolne,

Study location: the community of Rigolet, Nunatsiavut, Labrador

Rigolet (54°N, 58°W; Fig. 1) is the southern-most Inuit community globally, and is one of 53 Inuit communities in Canada. There are 269 residents (139 males, 130 females) in the community, with 40.9% of the population under the age of 25 years old, and 94% of residents identifying as Indigenous (StatsCan, 2006). Rigolet is situated within the land claim settlement region of Nunatsiavut, one of Canada's four Inuit regions, along with the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Nunavut, and Nunavik.

Methods

The data explored in this article are part of a larger case study, situated in Rigolet, which examined the implications of climate change for health and well-being. This multi-year, community-based participatory research was directed by the Rigolet Inuit Community Government, and united a transdisciplinary team of Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers from the natural, social, and health sciences from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada and from Rigolet through the Changing Climate,

Climate change, the land, and a changing sense of place

For all the respondents, the land surrounding the community is profoundly important, and the resulting connection and sense of place experienced by participants was reported to be deeply and intimately cultural, spiritual, and corporeal, and founded on long ancestral connections to the region (Fig. 2). Indeed, 98.2% of EDS participants (n = 110) reported that they held a strong love for the land, which was connected to a deep sense of place, with little variation between male and female

Discussion: climate change and place-based health and well-being

Place has been identified within the field of medical and health geographies as integral and essential to physical, mental, and emotional health and well-being, and a sense of place has been identified as an important determinant of health (Cummins et al., 2007; Curtis & Rees-Jones, 1998; Hess et al., 2008; Kearns, 1993; Macintyre et al., 2002). As is clear from this research, place-specific climatic and environmental changes impact physical, bodily, social, economic, cultural, emotional, and

Conclusion: climate change, health, and a new world reality

As one participant stated above in the Results section, people are not only from a particular place, but they are also of the place; that is, their identities, well-being, livelihoods, histories, and emotio-spiritual connections are emergent from the lands on which they live. Therefore, without a consideration of a sense of place and place-attachment in climate-health research, the complexity of the health effects resulting from climate change and variability, and the socio-cultural and health

Role of funding sources

Primary funding was provided for this research by Health Canada's First Nations and Inuit Health Branch under the Climate Change and Health Adaptation Program for Northern First Nations and Inuit Communities program (2009–2011). Complementary funding was provided by the Nasivvik Centre for Inuit Health and Changing Environments (2010–present) and the Nunatsiavut Government's Department of Health and Social Development (2010). Personal research support was also provided to Ashlee Cunsolo Willox

Acknowledgments

Deepest thanks and appreciation to the community of Rigolet and the many people who participated in this research and shared their stories, observations, and wisdom with our team. A big thank you to Candice Elson and Ashley Shiwak for their excellent research assistance, and to Charlotte Wolfrey, Marilyn Baikie and Inez Shiwak for comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript. Thanks also to the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful and insightful comments, which have helped to strengthen

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View full text

“From this place and of this place:” Climate change, sense of place, and health in Nunatsiavut, Canada

Abstract

Highlights

Section snippets

Introduction: climate change and place-based health

Study location: the community of Rigolet, Nunatsiavut, Labrador

Methods

Climate change, the land, and a changing sense of place

Discussion: climate change and place-based health and well-being

Conclusion: climate change, health, and a new world reality

Role of funding sources

Acknowledgments

Lancet

The Lancet

Social Science and Medicine

Global Environmental Change

Global Environmental Change

Global Environmental Change

American Journal of Preventive Medicine

Social Science and Medicine

Social Science and Medicine

Health and Place

Journal of Environmental Psychology

Health and Place

American Journal of Preventive Medicine

Solastalgia and the creation of new ways of living

Solastalgia: the distress caused by environmental change

Australian Psychiatry

Climate change and mental health: a causal pathways framework

International Journal of Public Health

Climate change and farmer's mental health: risks and responses

Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health

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Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health

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Health Services Research

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Journal of Environmental Monitoring

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