Seizure disorders and climate change: Everyone's problem.

Climate change – and the profligate, inequitable, fossil fuel-driven consumption that causes it – is everyone's problem. The present volume of Seizure features an article with testimonies from the members of the ILAE Epilepsy Climate Change Commission (CCC) [ [2] Aledo-Serrano A Taking action on climate change: testimonials and position statement from the international league against epilepsy climate change commission. Seizure. 2023; (In Press) Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (2) Google Scholar ], which make clear that this includes those living and working with epilepsy and other seizure disorders. Climate change affects human health in myriad ways – through its direct effects on heat waves and extreme weather events; through its indirect effects on natural systems, such as changing land use, and distribution of infectious diseases and their vectors; and through disruption of social dynamics – intersecting with other political, social, and economic determinants of health to exacerbate food and water insecurity, political instability, and forced migration [ [3] Pörtner H.O., Roberts D.C., Tignor M.M.B., et al., editors Climate change 2022: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. IPCC; 2022. Google Scholar , [4] Watts N. Adger W.N. Agnolucci P. et al. Health and climate change: policy responses to protect public health. Lancet. 2015; 386: 1861-1914https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60854-6 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (1133) Google Scholar ]. The fossil fuel dependence that overwhelmingly causes climate change also affects health more directly – from local environmental degradation and community disruption at the point of extraction, to the 3.6 million annual deaths attributable to ambient air pollution from fossil fuel combustion [ [5] Beagley J. Cradle to grave: the health harms of fossil fuel dependence and the case for a just phase-out. Glob Clim Health Alliance. 2022; (Accessed February 11, 2023)https://climateandhealthalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Cradle-To-Grave-Fossil-Fuels-Brief.pdf Google Scholar ].