The course  N261Climate Change, Health, and Social Justice - focuses on climate change and how it impacts on health, equity, and issues of social (i.e., environmental, economic, and racial) justice. Students engage in active learning including student group projects in community engagement, creating policy briefs, and conducting advocacy at a local, national, or global level.

For this video production assignment, students were  expected to work in small groups to create an educational video on a theme related to the impact of climate change and health. This year’s (2024) theme/topic was: Role of Technology in Climate Change, Health, and Social Justice.

In recent years, issues related to climate change and its impact on health has taken center stage in our politics, society, and academic settings. As we know, climate change and global warming cause extreme weather events, impact air quality, water, food production, industry, economic and political stability, and many other global challenges to sustainability. The impacts on health are broad. Examples of health impacts related to climate changes are communicable and noncommunicable diseases, as well as poor health outcomes such as childhood asthma, infant morbidity and mortality, diseases of hunger, and access to HIV prevention and treatment programs. The impacts of climate change reach into every area of our life and have an increased impact on marginalized and minoritized populations within our communities. A few examples include inequities in education, exposure to unsafe and toxic exposures in low-income neighborhoods, unstable housing and homelessness, flooding and wildfires causing housing instability and stress related illnesses and job loss, and economic instability for agriculture and migrant workers. The people who are more likely to be affected by the climate crisis are least likely to be including in the conversation on how to respond to climate change, and may not have the information or resources they need to help mitigate harmful impacts. Thus, a key feature of this assignment is for students to develop a brief educational video on a topic related to climate change, health, and social justice that can be used to educate the local community about climate change or extreme weather events and their impact on health.

See the video projects, below: 

Heat Wave
(created by Amaleid Abuelzeet, RN and Temitope Ojomo, RN)

Technology, Climate Change, and Global Health
(created by Daniel Kifle, RN & Matt McGowen, RN)