Polycrisis fellow Megan Shipman found this commentary from Webb, Hanssen and Marten (2023) advocating for changes in fossil fuel policy to be a good example of how two systems—climate and health—and their interactions can contribute to the global polycrisis.
“The authors argue that climate change results in both direct and indirect global health issues that will, conservatively, result in an additional 250,000 additional deaths per year,” Shipman shared. “For example, an increase in natural catastrophes brought about by climate change would weaken infrastructure, cause migration, and put increased burden on the extreme poor resulting in more acute medical emergencies, a greater spread of disease, and malnutrition. In examining these examples provided, it’s easy to see how food and energy systems would be impacted by any of these changes as well.”