Bianca Palese, 134 TESS
Recently, our Country Director asked us PCVs to reflect on the way in which climate change impacts our work and our communities. My counterpart and I had a brief but interesting conversation about it and that was the end of it. That is, until I was staying home sick for the fourth time in six months, feeling defeated.
As usual, when I get sick the locals will tell me I must have “weather sickness”. They say that it’s very common when the weather changes from sunny to rainy for several days, for people to get weather sickness. The weather in my village does change often – from scorching hot, to a week of downpour and chills. Yet I’ve always been a little skeptical of this “weather sickness”. I would more likely assume my illness is due to germs spreading while sharing food, but maybe weather is a factor too. When one of my students gets sick, all of them do and many of the teachers do too.
All of this is to say that I do think there is a very important connection between climate change and public health. Increases in rain lead to higher rates of dengue fever. Unpredictable rainfall negatively impacts the rice crop, and therefore, nutritional outcomes. I’ve also had my classes canceled before because it was raining and the other teachers said if the students came to class in the rain they would get sick. I found this 2022 study published by UNICEF that outlines all the ways climate change threatens the wellbeing of Thai children. My province, Ubon Ratchathani, has the highest overall risk to climate change along with some of our neighbors.
The caveat to all this, however, is that we must be careful with how we tell people from rural communities to combat climate change – especially considering that they are not the ones to blame for the state of the planet to begin with. Sometimes I frown upon how many plastic cups are used and discarded here everyday, but then again, maybe it’s better to use disposable plastics when the alternative is washing dishes in unclean rainwater and leaving them outside in the elements until they’re used again. The lack of proper sanitation services in my community makes me want to throw away everything after using it once too.
In my opinion, a critical factor to consider in what we can do for our communities’ environment is to evaluate how eco-friendly practices could affect the health of the community in the short and long term. Don’t necessarily discourage the use of single use plastics but do encourage recycling, and make it readily available so that the bottles aren’t piling up and attracting insects looking for sugary residue. Try to figure out a solution to deliver education to children when the climate is unfavorable for physically going to the classroom by investing in digital infrastructure and literacy. Solve the air quality problem by offering solutions that are sustainable and cost effective to rural farmers. Not all of these things are within the current scope of Peace Corps Volunteers by any means, but as far as thinking about development factors for a country, I advocate for you to ponder.
Sticky Rice 
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