Climate Change Causes Harsh Impacts on Rural Canadians

Urban areas are receiving a lot of media attention about climate change impacts such as urban flooding and urban heat islands. Unfortunately, rural and remote communities are most vulnerable to climate change impacts. Climate change is harming rural Canadians’ health, infrastructure, and food and natural resource production.  

 A researcher at Memorial University investigated how climate change is impacting the physical and mental well-being of people living in rural areas. Some disadvantages of living in rural areas include the lack of job options and health-care access. This is due to the transportation challenges to get services into rural areas. Many communities rely on planes for food, supplies, and critical services like health care. However, the more frequent occurrence of storms in northern and remote areas makes it harder for people to access medical appointments and emergency services.

 There are also mental health impacts that result from climate change. As wildfires became more severe and happened more frequently in rural areas, more people stayed inside. However, this meant that fewer people did exercise outside and spent time in nature. This negatively impacted the physical and mental well-being of rural residents as they often have closer ties to the land.

 As climate change impacts become more severe, it is important that businesses and consumers do what they can to reduce their carbon footprint. The Anorra Turbines and Towers allow rural homeowners, tiny homeowners, and cottage owners the opportunity to leverage wind-based clean renewable energy to power their homes.