Breaking the Ice: Exploring the Link Between Glaciers and Mental Well-being

Authors

  • Keeya Beausoleil University of Alberta
  • Judy Moon Youreka Edmonton
  • Rowan Mah Youreka Edmonton

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29173/eureka28798

Keywords:

glacier, cryosphere, suicide rates, mental health, environmental factors, climate change

Abstract

Background    Glaciers are integral in maintaining hydrological cycles, moderating oceanic levels, and preserving valuable ecosystems.  Cryospheric regions are often overlooked in evaluating the environmental factors affecting mental health. This study investigates the potential influence of glacial presence and melt behaviour on global mental health, particularly among marginalized communities.

Methods   National suicide rates of general population and specific age categories were gathered from World Health Organization between 2012-19. Glacial data was sourced from the World Glacier Monitoring Service, and Randolph Glacier Inventory. Wilcox testing was conducted to identify mean suicide rates across countries with and without glaciers. Pearson and Spearman correlation testing were employed to identify relationships between melt rate indicators and suicide rates.  

Results    Over the entire eight-year duration, countries with the existence of glaciers revealed a notably higher suicide rate (p-value of 0.0001). Children aged 5-15 years old demonstrated a consistently higher suicide rate amongst countries with glacial bodies (p-value between 0.020-0.037). A positive correlation between regional suicide rates and glacial area was revealed, except in low-latitude countries.  Although melt rate variability showed no significant correlation with suicide statistics, Greenland was the only country to demonstrate a negative relation among all populations.

Conclusions    To address the ongoing impacts of the climate crisis, further research is necessary to develop an inclusive framework that acknowledges the unique challenges faced by communities living in cryospheric regions.  This study is the tip of the iceberg, recognizing the importance of inclusivity in addressing the mental health implications of climate change in these environments.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Albrecht, G., Sartore, G. M., Connor, L., Higginbotham, N., Freeman, S., Kelly, B., Stain, H., Tonna, A., & Pollard, G. (2007). Solastalgia: the distress caused by environmental change. Australasian psychiatry : bulletin of Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, 15 Suppl 1, S95–S98. https://doi.org/10.1080/10398560701701288

Allison, E. A. (2015). The spiritual significance of glaciers in an age of climate change. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 6(5), 493-508.

Barry, R. G., & Gan, T. Y. (2022). The global cryosphere: past, present, and future. Cambridge University Press.

Bellard, C., Bertelsmeier, C., Leadley, P., Thuiller, W., & Courchamp, F. (2012). Impacts of climate change on the future of biodiversity. Ecology letters, 15(4), 365-377.

Benevolenza, M. A., & DeRigne, L. (2019). The impact of climate change and natural disasters on vulnerable populations: A systematic review of literature. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 29(2), 266-281.

Bentley, C. R. (1984). Some aspects of the cryosphere and its role in climatic change. Climate Processes and Climate Sensitivity, 29, 207-220.

Berry, H. L., Bowen, K., & Kjellstrom, T. (2010). Climate change and mental health: a causal pathways framework. International journal of public health, 55, 123-132.

Bratman, G. N., Hamilton, J. P., & Daily, G. C. (2012). The impacts of nature experience on human cognitive function and mental health. Annals of the New York academy of sciences, 1249(1), 118-136.

Buckley, R., Brough, P., Hague, L., Chauvenet, A., Fleming, C., Roche, E., ... & Harris, N. (2019). Economic value of protected areas via visitor mental health. Nature communications, 10(1), 5005.

Burnasheva, D. (2020). Understanding Climate Change from an Indigenous Paradigm: Identity, Spirituality and Hydrosocial Relations in the Arctic. Arctic Yearbook, 2020, 1-17.

Carey, M., Jackson, M., Antonello, A., & Rushing, J. (2016). Glaciers, gender, and science: A feminist glaciology framework for global environmental change research. Progress in Human Geography, 40(6), 770-793.

Cianconi P, Betrò S and Janiri L (2020) The Impact of Climate Change on Mental Health: A Systematic Descriptive Review. Front. Psychiatry 11:74. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00074

Clayton, S. (2021). Climate change and mental health. Current Environmental Health Reports, 8, 1-6.

Clayton, S. D., & Manning, C. M. (2018). Psychology and climate change : human perceptions, impacts, and responses. Academic Press, an imprint of Elsevier.

Cunsolo Willox, A., Harper, S. L., Ford, J. D., Edge, V. L., Landman, K., Houle, K., ... & Wolfrey, C. (2013). Climate change and mental health: an exploratory case study from Rigolet, Nunatsiavut, Canada. Climatic Change, 121, 255-270

Cunsolo Willox, A., Stephenson, E., Allen, J., Bourque, F., Drossos, A., Elgarøy, S., ... & Wexler, L. (2015). Examining relationships between climate change and mental health in the Circumpolar North. Regional Environmental Change, 15, 169-182

Dale, V. H., Joyce, L. A., McNulty, S., Neilson, R. P., Ayres, M. P., Flannigan, M. D., ... & Wotton, B. M. (2001). Climate change and forest disturbances: climate change can affect forests by altering the frequency, intensity, duration, and timing of fire, drought, introduced species, insect and pathogen outbreaks, hurricanes, windstorms, ice storms, or landslides. BioScience, 51(9), 723-734.

DeBeer, C. M., Wheater, H. S., Carey, S. K., & Chun, K. P. (2016). Recent climatic, cryospheric, and hydrological changes over the interior of western Canada: a review and synthesis. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 20(4), 1573-1598

Dewailly, E., Nantel, A., Weber, J. P., & Meyer, F. (1989). High levels of PCBs in breast milk of Inuit women from arctic Quebec. Bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology, 43(5), 641–646. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01701981

Gagné, K., Rasmussen, M. B., & Orlove, B. (2014). Glaciers and society: Attributions, perceptions, and valuations. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 5(6), 793-808.

Grassini, S. (2022). A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Nature Walk as an Intervention for Anxiety and Depression. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 11(6), 1731. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11061731

Haeberli, W., Hoelzle, M., Paul, F., & Zemp, M. (2007). Integrated monitoring of mountain glaciers as key indicators of global climate change: the European Alps. Annals of glaciology, 46, 150-160.

Hovelsrud GK, Poppel B, van Oort B, Reist JD. (2011). Arctic societies, cultures, and Peoples in a changing cryosphere. AMBIO;40(S1):100-110. doi:10.1007/s13280-011-0219-4

Hovelsrud, G. K., Poppel, B., Van Oort, B., & Reist, J. D. (2011). Arctic societies, cultures, and peoples in a changing cryosphere. Ambio, 40, 100-110.

Hugonnet, R., et al. (2021). Accelerated global glacier mass loss in the early twenty-first century. Nature, 592(7856), 726-731.

IPCC. (2019). IPCC special report on the ocean and cryosphere. A Changing Climate.

Jurt, C., Brugger, J., Dunbar, K., Milch, K., & Orlove, B. (2015). Cultural values of glaciers. In C. Huggel, M. Carey, J. Clague, & A. Kääb (Eds.), The High-Mountain Cryosphere: Environmental Changes and Human Risks (pp. 90-106). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781107588653.006

Kääb, A., Reynolds, J. M., & Haeberli, W. (2005). Glacier and permafrost hazards in high mountains. Global change and mountain regions: an overview of current knowledge, 225-234.

Lawrance, E., Thompson, R., Fontana G., & Jennings, N. (2021). The impact of climate change on mental health and emotional wellbeing: current evidence and implications for policy and practice. Avalable at: https://www. imperial. ac. uk/grantham/publications/all-publications/the-impact-of-climate-change-on-mentalhealth-and-emotional-wellbeing-current-evidence-and-implications-for-policy-and-practice. Php.

Maes, M. J., Pirani, M., Booth, E. R., Shen, C., Milligan, B., Jones, K. E., & Toledano, M. B. (2021). Benefit of woodland and other natural environments for adolescents’ cognition and mental health. Nature Sustainability, 4(10), 851-858.

Majeed, H., & Lee, J. (2017). The impact of climate change on youth depression and mental health. The Lancet Planetary Health, 1(3), e94-e95.

Milner, A. M., Khamis, K., Battin, T. J., Brittain, J. E., Barrand, N. E., Füreder, L., ... & Brown, L. E. (2017). Glacier shrinkage driving global changes in downstream systems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(37), 9770-9778.

Naghavi, M. (2019). Global, regional, and national burden of suicide mortality 1990 to 2016: systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. bmj, 364

Nutsford, D., Pearson, A. L., & Kingham, S. (2013). An ecological study investigating the association between access to urban green space and mental health. Public health, 127(11), 1005-1011.

Pfeffer, W., et al. (2014). The Randolph Glacier Inventory: A globally complete inventory of glaciers. Journal of Glaciology, 60(221), 537-552. doi:10.3189/2014JoG13J176

Rasul G and Molden D (2019) The Global Social and Economic Consequences of Mountain Cryospheric Change. Front. Environ. Sci. 7:91. doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2019.00091

Reining, C. E., Lemieux, C. J., & Doherty, S. T. (2021). Linking restorative human health outcomes to protected area ecosystem diversity and integrity. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 64(13), 2300-2325.

Ren Z, Martyniuk N, Oleksy IA, Swain A and Hotaling S (2019) Ecological Stoichiometry of the Mountain Cryosphere. Front. Ecol. Evol. 7:360. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2019.00360

Ruiz, R., Schönach, P., Shields, R., & Policy, U. E. (2020). Beyond Melt. Indigenous Lifeways in a Fading Cryosphere.

Stefánsson, H., Peternell, M., Konrad-Schmolke, M., Hannesdóttir, H., Ásbjörnsson, E. J., & Sturkell, E. (2021). Microplastics in Glaciers: First Results from the Vatnajökull Ice Cap. Sustainability, 13(8), 4183. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084183

Su, Xiao, Chen, Qin, & Ding. (2019). Cryosphere Services and Human Well-Being. Sustainability, 11(16), 4365. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11164365

Talukder, B., Matthew, R., Bunch, M. J., Hipel, K. W., & Orbinski, J. (2021). Melting of Himalayan glaciers and planetary health. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 50, 98-108.

Tøllefsen, I.M., Hem, E. & Ekeberg, Ø. (2012)The reliability of suicide statistics: a systematic review. BMC Psychiatry 12, 9. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-12-9

Vergunst, F., & Berry, H. L. (2022). Climate change and children’s mental health: a developmental perspective. Clinical Psychological Science, 10(4), 767-785.

Wood, L., Hooper, P., Foster, S., & Bull, F. (2017). Public green spaces and positive mental health–investigating the relationship between access, quantity and types of parks and mental wellbeing. Health & place, 48, 63-71.

Yongjian, D. I. N. G., Shiqiang, Z. H. A. N. G., & Rensheng, C. H. E. N. (2020). Cryospheric hydrology: decode the largest freshwater reservoir on earth. Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version), 35(4), 414-424.

Downloads

Published

2023-11-28

How to Cite

Beausoleil, K., Moon, J., & Mah, R. (2023). Breaking the Ice: Exploring the Link Between Glaciers and Mental Well-being . Eureka, 8(2). https://doi.org/10.29173/eureka28798

Issue

Section

Articles