Even after a drought-denting snowstorm across much of Colorado last week, here are some sobering numbers amid our unseasonably warm, historically dry year:
- 81.7: The percentage of Coloradans who say that the changing climate impacts people’s health.
- 37.7: The percentage of Coloradans who say their own health or a family member’s health was impacted by climate change within the previous year.
- 1.5 million: The number of people that 37.7% represents.
The figures come courtesy of new survey data from the Colorado Health Institute, a nonpartisan health policy research organization.
“For so long,” Joe Hanel, CHI’s communications director, said, “we’ve been talking about climate change as a big problem that’s on the horizon. What these results tell me is that climate change is a big problem that’s here right now.”
The Colorado Health Institute pulled the numbers from its every-other-year Colorado Health Access Survey. That’s the same survey widely used to track changes in how many people are without health insurance in Colorado. But it also asks a lot of broad questions about health and healthcare, and a few years ago CHI began including questions about climate change. The responses help inform CHI’s Acclimate Colorado project to prepare communities for the impacts of a changing climate.
In keeping with that, the new report provides a road map for understanding where and what kind of climate-related public health efforts are needed.
For instance, the most commonly reported health issues due to climate are respiratory illnesses or breathing problems, with 26.8% of respondents saying they or a family member experienced them. Second, at 9.9%, are mental health or substance use issues — highlighting the toll that climate anxiety is taking on some Coloradans.
Of the 6% of people who said they didn’t know that climate change could impact health, a disproportionate number spoke a language other than English at home, which shows the importance of having information on climate available in multiple languages, said Lindsey Whittington, CHI’s data and analysis manager. It also shows the importance of public health authorities working closely with individual communities to ensure messaging that resonates with those communities’ members.
“That’s where it really happens meaningfully, where you’re making those local relationships,” Whittington said.
The report also zooms in on the 12.3% of people who say they don’t believe the climate is changing or that it can impact health. Those folks are more likely to be male, to be middle-aged, to be middle-income, or to live in a rural area, according to the report.
Whittington said the goal of looking more deeply at this group isn’t to try to turn them into climate change converts but to find areas where people across the spectrum can work together. Someone may not believe in human-caused global warming while still being concerned about how climate changes are impacting the water supply, the agricultural system or the snowpack, Whittington said.
Whittington said the emphasis should be on “the way that it is spoken about and the way you make it relevant to people.”
Hanel highlighted another facet: Even among men, among rural residents or among middle-aged individuals, people in Colorado who don’t believe in climate change account for no more than 18% in any specific group. That refutes the notion that the public is closely divided on climate change.
“There really isn’t much of a controversy among Coloradans about whether the climate is changing or whether it affects health,” he said.