Global aging: Key elements of the demographic transition - 20th Annual John K. Friesen Conference - Growing Old in a Changing Climate: Exploring the Interface Between Population Aging and Global Warming (2011)

This video clip comprises the three presentations of Panel Session 1, “Defining the Issues: Climate Science, Health and Gerontological Perspectives” held at the 20th Annual John K. Friesen Conference, "Growing Old in a Changing Climate: Exploring the Interface Between Population Aging and Global Warming," MAY 25-26, 2011, Vancouver, BC. Dr. Gloria Gutman " Global aging: Key elements of the demographic transition" - Population aging is happening worldwide, and at unprecedented speed in the developing world. It occurs when there are two simultaneous trends: increasing life expectancy and declining fertility. But older people are not a homogeneous group. Gerontologists distinguish between the young-old (age 65-74), middle-old (75-84), older-old (85-99) and very-old (100+). While age is only a rough predictor of health, functional status and life-style, there are between age group differences that have implications for physiological and psychological reaction to climate change and ability to cope with it. This presentation will include a description of the sex distribution, housing and living arrangements, education, socio-economic status, social support, mobility, functional status and “techno-savvy” of today’s and tomorrow’s 65+ population – key variables to consider when discussing mitigation and adaptation to climate change. Also key to consider are other global trends occurring simultaneously with population ageing such as migration, urbanization and the recent economic downturn. We also gratefully acknowledge a grant from the SFU Library's Scholarly Digitization Fund for videography and post-production editing. See webpage for more information on the 20th Annual John K. Friesen Conference: http://www.sfu.ca/grc/friesen/friesen2011/