Climate change may be making us lonelier: How heat waves and extreme weather disrupt social connections everyone relies on |
Severe storms, heat waves and wildfires can shut down the social life of a community, flooding out festivals, canceling community events and keeping people indoors.
They’re also evidence of how climate change isn’t just changing the environments we all live in, but also impeding our ability to connect with one another.
Around the world, social connection is increasingly recognized as essential to individual and collective well-being. It keeps our brains active and can lower stress levels. During emergencies, social ties can also save lives. Relationships are conduits for timely information sharing, mutual aid and collective action. When temperatures soar, friends and neighbors share heat warnings, check on older adults or other community members who may need help, and coordinate community cooling shelters when formal systems are overwhelmed.
Yet, the effects of climate change may be weakening the very social fabric that helps communities thrive.
As extreme weather becomes more common and disruptive, the effects can impair relationships, interrupt routines and communication, and damage gathering places and the foundations of community traditions.
As an assistant professor of social work at the University of Tennessee, I study converging social and environmental crises, including social disconnection and extreme weather. I’ve found that one of climate change’s most overlooked impacts may be its ability to worsen the continuing loneliness epidemic.
Studies show the amount of time Americans spent interacting with friends and family in person was declining even before........