How the Eco-Crisis is Changing Our Brains | Clayton Aldern

The climate crisis is causing an invisible health crisis.

The number one cause of neurodegenerative disease is the environment. And our environment is changing—releasing bacteria, neurotoxins and pathogens into our warming world which can change the very matter in our brains.

Clayton Aldern is a neuroscientist and environmental reporter at Grist. In his 2024 book, The Weight of Nature: How a Changing Climate Changes Our Brains, Clayton revealed how the climate crisis intersects with our psychological, mental and brain health, warning that this health crisis, if left untreated, could upturn our lives. In this astounding episode, he walks through the different ways climate intersects with brain health, revealing the increased risk of a number of different diseases, what triggers them, and the absolute failure of policy-makers to address it. We discuss stress, violence, aggression, and using our bodies as an empathetic tool to understand the pain of others, with Clayton painting an optimistic picture about the power of story-telling to change the world.

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