The climate crisis is not only changing the physical environment, but can also worsen loneliness by limiting opportunities for social interaction and damaging community gathering places. Storms, heat waves, floods, and wildfires can cancel festivals, halt community activities, and push residents to stay home.
Fiona Doherty, assistant professor of social work at the University of Tennessee, says social relationships are an important component of individual and community wellbeing. In her writing, Doherty states that one of the most often overlooked impacts of climate change is likely its potential to worsen the loneliness epidemic.
Interaction with others helps keep the brain active, reduces stress, and can save lives when disasters occur, according to Doherty. For example, when temperatures spike, friends and neighbours can share warnings, check on the elderly, and help prepare cool shelters. Yet increasingly frequent extreme weather actually weakens these social networks.
Extreme heat causes residents to avoid outdoor activities and prefer to stay near air conditioning or fans, Doherty says. Storms and floods can make travel dangerous or impossible, making it difficult for residents to see family or attend social gatherings. Extreme weather can also cause power outages and disrupt internet and mobile networks, cutting off communication via phone, text messages, and social media when information is most needed.
The climate crisis can also alter or damage places that hold cultural and social meaning. Floods can damage public spaces commonly used by residents for swimming, picnicking, and gathering. Doherty points to her own experience when a small lake in her home town in New York was damaged by a storm, causing the rural community to lose one of the few gathering places it had.
These social impacts are most heavily felt by groups that were already isolated, such as the elderly, rural residents, and people without adequate access to transport and the internet, according to Doherty. To preserve social relationships amid extreme weather, she recommends that governments invest in community centres, such as public libraries, that can serve as gathering places while also functioning as climate resilience hubs by providing study spaces, heat shelters, internet connections, and charging facilities during power outages.
