Mental Health and Decline of The Environment are Directly Connected

    The world is in a constant state of energy exchange and human carbon emissions only makes this more chaotic. Human caused climate change has large impacts on the environment. In the article Berman et al. (2019), it describes, "through hierarchical systems theory and mathematical modeling how interacting with urban greenspace may reduce psychopathology via improvements in neurocognitive functioning, which in turn, may increase social interactions." As the climate is constantly changing it is very likely that it can affect how humans interact with the environment and also affect behavior. On Summer of 2022 in the United Kingdom, soared passed dozens of temperature and climate records according to the BBC. Temperatures passed 40 degrees celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). Scientist at the Met Office who carried analysis described, "virtually impossible without human-induced climate change." Interaction with greenspace is shown to help with neurocognitive functioning, but with hotter climate on the rise it could affect how humans interact with going outside. This could in turn affect cognition and brain functioning.

     In the article, Berman et al. (2019), he goes in depth with different models on how to measure data for environmental scientist. Different values could be added to help change results to better correlate as there is extensive factors that contribute to measuring affects of the environment in combination with human behavior. Berman was able to show in other research that those that interacted with outside environment performed better on a test than those that walked in a city environment. His explanation of how environment interaction helps cognition with humans connects with the increasing change in the climate. As the planet gets hotter humans could tend to stay indoors more or even lose aspects of a healthy environment. Berman explained that nature is shown on the screen or artificially made showed similar results to cognitive test. If the environment deteriorates it could result a decline in cognition for humans as well. Record temperatures in half of the UK's weather stations were broken in 2022. The record of temperature change in the Uk had been held for 79 years, dating back to 1911. Recently the record has been broken 3 consecutive times in the span of last 32 years. This change in climate is drastic and if it continues it could in turn affect cognition and behavior of humans. Wildfires were rapid in France, Greece, Spain, and Portugal during the summer of 2022 as well which could lead to harming air quality and could cause other environmental factors that could be harmful to humans.

    Overall, Berman addresses that more mechanisms need to be researched to help better form better data for measuring environmental neuroscience. The increase in temperature and rapid change in climate could be important factors that could influence how human cognition is measured. The United Kingdom and Europe are just a few examples in the world where human-induced climate change causes many factors that can harm human health. The connection between humans and their environment is essential for life to function in a balance. Time will tell how humans will adapt and if cognition and behavior will decline with a deteriorating environment.

BBC News: Climate Change: Summer 2022 smashed dozens of UK records 

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-63244353

Berman et. al. 2019

Berman, M. G., Stier, A. J., & Akcelik, G. N. (2019). Environmental neuroscience. American Psychologist, 74(9), 1039–1052. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000583