Dr. Merrill Singer, professor of anthropology at UCONN, has partnered with Family Life Education to study the impact of climate change on low-income residents of Hartford and their awareness and understanding of climate change. The study, which was recently published in the journal Medical Anthropology, has been featured on UCONN Today.
Merrill Singer’s research on community impacts and perceptions of climate change was published in Medical anthropology.
“I Feel Suffocated:” Understandings of Climate Change in an Inner City Heat Island.
Merrill Singer, Jose Hasemann and Abigail Raynor
Global climate change is contributing to a range of adverse environmental and weather shifts, including more intense and more frequent heat waves and an intensification of the urban heat island effect. These changes are known to produce a set of significant and differentially distributed health problems, with a particularly high burden among poor and marginalized populations. We examined community knowledge, attitudes, health and other concerns, and behavioral responses regarding mounting urban temperatures and related environmental health issues among Latinos living in the Northeast U.S. city of Hartford, CT. Our findings suggest the need for enhanced participation in knowledge dissemination and preparedness planning based on the co-production of knowledge about climate change and community responses to it. The special potential role of anthropology in such efforts is highlighted by our analysis.
You are warmly invited to the next World Health Organization Global Health Histories online webinar on ‘Climate Change & Health’ on THURSDAY 17 September 2015 (12:30 – 14:00pm CET). This month’s speakers are Professor Merrill Singer (University of Connecticut, USA) & Dr Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum (WHO). Further details and event poster are available here.
This seminar will be broadcast live over the internet. By signing up for this (registration is free and on a first come first served basis) participants can listen to the talks, view the speakers’ PowerPoint presentations and, if they wish, pose questions to the presenters and other discussants. To register please use this link.