Do what you can to combat climate change, and take simple steps
to protect your mental health. Recent hurricanes and flooding
undoubtedly took a toll on the mental health of people in its
path: stress over property damage, worries about loved ones
living near affected areas, the headache of trying to evacuate
en masse on gridlocked roadways. And stress doesn't end when the
skies clear. Researchers at Tulane University tracked heart
attack rates for five years following Hurricane Katrina and
uncovered a fourfold increase over pre-Katrina rates, which they
attributed to chronic stress created by recovery efforts. It
appears that the mental and physical stress associated with
these major storms will continue to worsen, according to a new
report from The Climate Institute, an Australian nonprofit
devoted to combating climate change. The report, titled A
Climate of Suffering: The Real Costs of Living with Inaction on
Climate Change, suggests that extreme weather conditions caused
by climate change and the ensuing