Jaana Halonen: “The link between climate change and health is easy to forget”
In her work, Jaana Halonen, chief researcher at THL, has investigated the link between climate change and health. Halonen carries out research on topics including how to adapt the Finnish health care system to a warmer climate.
Chief Researcher Jaana Halonen of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) brings a health perspective to the Finnish Climate Change Panel.
She wrote her doctoral thesis on the health effects of air pollution and has researched topics including the relationship between the environment and outdoor temperatures and heart health. Since 2019, she has been leading the THL’s Safe and Healthy Living Environments research programme. At the same time, she is leading a project at Stockholm University focusing on the link between climate change and mental health.
“My background is quite broad, but climate change itself is also a broad phenomenon and understanding it requires the ability to connect the dots. For example, reducing air pollution will cut greenhouse gas emissions and also benefit human health.”
Adapting to heatwaves and darkness
According to Halonen, Finnish society does not pay enough attention to the health links of different issues.
“Climate discourse explores how much investments in industry and transport will cost. People perhaps do not consider the benefits of these investments in terms of promoting health and preventing disease.”
Halonen is particularly interested in how Finnish healthcare could be adapted to the weather changes brought about by climate change, such as warmer summers and wetter, darker winters.
“We already know that heatwaves have a particularly negative impact on the health of the most vulnerable groups,” says Halonen.
“However, there has been little research on potential mental health problems resulting from increased darkness, but our study based on Swedish data found that depressive symptoms were more commonly reported in the spring if it had been a darker winter.”
Nudging towards climate measures
Halonen is also involved in a project titled Climate Nudge, which aims to explore how ordinary people can be ‘nudged’ to do carry out more climate actions. In particular, the project aims to reduce emissions from transport and expand carbon sinks in forests.
“It is not an easy task. Changing people’s behaviour is difficult, because everyone has their own old, ingrained habits,” says Halonen.
The project’s researchers talk about ‘choice architecture’ – the everyday environment in which people make lifestyle decisions.
For example, the choice architecture of lunch buffet in a workplace canteen can be changed by moving salads and vegetables to the beginning of the buffet. These kinds of simple and easy-to-implement changes can increase the amount of healthy and climate-friendly food on people’s plates.
Simplicity is also emphasised in recycling. The best way to do this is to ensure easy access to recycling bins in the resident’s building or on their own street, as well as having a place to collect recyclable waste at home.
The second main theme of the Climate Nudge project – changing mobility patterns – aims to achieve health benefits for the whole population by increasing active mobility. The project will ‘nudge’ people, where possible, to travel to work and school on foot or by bike instead of by car.
Electric cars are much talked about in the media and spark hope for the success of the green transition, but Halonen does not yet see them as a means of transport for the whole population.
“Fully electric cars are still expensive, so in that sense, they are not accessible to everyone. However, it is positive that the well-off are replacing their petrol cars with electric equivalents.”
“With electric cars, it is also important to bear in mind that manufacturing them also generates greenhouse gas and air pollution emissions, which can be harmful to human health, especially in the country where they are manufactured.”
“All things considered, it would be good if we could reduce private car use, especially in urban areas. This would bring about health benefits both locally and globally,” Halonen emphasises.
Contact with decision-makers is valuable
In Halonen’s view, the role of the Finnish Climate Change Panel in Finnish society is absolutely crucial, as tackling climate change problems with a multisectoral approach is the optimal solution.
“I particularly value the Panel’s direct contact with decision-makers. And also that the Panel has at its fingertips researched and compiled information. This means that we don’t have to communicate with fragmented snippets of information here and there.”
Outside work, Halonen – a former competitive skier – still skis in Paloheinä in Helsinki, Puijo in Kuopio and in her home town of Kontiolahti.
She has also taken up bouldering, or indoor wall climbing.
“Bouldering takes your mind off work. It is also quite a technical sport where you have to use your brain.”
“On my laziest days, I choose the easy climbing routes, but I still get my daily dose of exercise and feel good.”