Climate Health Connect

IPCC Releases Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Weather and Disasters

by Cristina Tirado, November 18, 2011

Bangkok flood. Today the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has launched in Kampala Uganda, its ‘Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation’ (SREX). The report has been written by over 200 hundred authors and reviewed by many hundreds including academics, practitioners and policy makers. The findings of the report were approved by 194 governments. Key messages of SREX can be found at SREX – Key Messages.

The report foresees a world of ever more frequent disasters in a warming world and outlines the link between global warming, extreme weather events and their economic impact. It includes a catalogue of measures at local, national and international level that successfully reduce disaster risk. The report suggests that if countries and communities are to avoid the worst disasters in a changing climate, such measures will need to be accompanied by deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

In California, “The Governor’s Conference on Extreme Climate Risks and California’s Future” on December 15 in San Francisco builds on the findings of the IPCC SREX report. The Governor’s Conference will focus on the risks of unpredictable and extreme weather events caused by climate change and how our communities can prepare and adapt. The Governor will be joined at the Conference by Nobel Prize Winner Dr. Rajendra Pachauri and other leaders. The PHI’s Center for Public Health and Climate Change will be there.

After this year's sequence of extreme weather events, from the unprecedented heat wave and drought in Texas, severe drought in the Horn of Africa and the recent floods in Bangkok, there is an urgent need to address public health issues in climate adaptation plans and in disaster risk reduction strategies. This includes actions that immediately improve the health of the poorest communities and also reduce their vulnerability to climate change.

Photo: Isriya

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Tags: Adaptation, Extreme Weather

Proposed U.S. Legislation for Climate Change and Health Preparedness An Important Step

by Cristina Tirado and Jeni Miller, November 08, 2011

Last week, Lois Capps (D-CA) reintroduced legislation, the Climate Change Health Protection and Promotion Act, which calls for a national strategic action plan that would help public health agencies prepare for the health impacts of climate change. In a nation seemingly bent on keeping its head firmly buried in the sand on this issue, this is a welcome move.

A recent study published by the Natural Resources Defense Council and several universities estimates that six climate change–related events that struck the United States from between 2000 and 2009 accounted for about $14 Billion in lost lives and health costs. These climate change–related events -ozone pollution, heat waves, hurricanes, infectious disease outbreaks, river flooding, and wildfires- are projected to worsen with continued global warming. Actual health care costs were estimated to be $740 million and the future health costs associated with predicted climate change–related events such as hurricanes, heat waves, and floods are projected to be enormous.

Public health agencies in the U.S. will be faced with dealing with these impacts on people’s health. Given the right tools, funding, and mandates, public health agencies could play a key role in preventing the worst health impacts by helping communities to be prepared. A national strategic plan can provide a framework that enables public health agencies and others to help create resilient communities prepared for a range of adverse events and situations. And just as many actions to mitigate and prevent further climate change have numerous co-benefits to health, so climate change health preparedness also prepares communities even for adverse events not related to climate change. Congresswoman Capps has recognized that there is much to gained by being prepared, and much more to be lost of we aren’t.

Public Health Institute and the Center for Public Health & Climate Change welcome and applaud this important Act.

Learn more about the Climate Change Health Protection and Promotion Act.

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Tags: Climate Mitigation, Co-Benefits, Extreme Weather Events, Policy, United States

Climate Change, Health and Security

by Cristina Tirado, November 03, 2011

Climate change is considered the greatest current threat to public health and to future security. How to secure our future wellbeing under a changing climate has been discussed by leading experts in health, security, the military, economics, and business at the Conference on Health and Security Perspectives of Climate Change in London on October 17th.

Among other issues the Conference highlighted the health co-benefits and savings of lower carbon use. For example, reducing EU greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2020 (compared to 1990 levels) would save over €80 billion a year in healthcare costs and through increased productivity of a healthier workforce.[i]

A statement urging governments around the world to prioritize efforts to address the causes and impacts of climate change was co-signed by many delegates at the Conference including the PHI’s Center for Public Health and Climate Change.

i "Acting Now for better health, A 30% reduction target for EU climate policy", HEAL and HCWHE, 2010

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Tags: Climate Adaptation, Climate Mitigation, Co-Benefits, National Security

Charting The Rapids Ahead: Western Water, Climate Change & Public Health -- Podcast Now Available!

by Jeni Miller, October 28, 2011

Water issues are already emerging as a result of climate change. In the fragile and often dry climates of the American West, the potential impacts on fresh water as a result of a changing climate are profound. Meanwhile water rights remain politically complex and sensitive. The Center’s October 19th webinar, Charting the Rapids Ahead: Western Water, Climate Change and Public Health, brought national experts together to present current thinking and policy implications on this crucial issue. Visit Dialogue4Health to view the presentations and listen to the recorded webinar.

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Tags: Climate Adaptation, Climate Mitigation, oceans and water

Healthy US Food and Farm Policies Would Benefit Climate Too

by Jade Sasser and Matthew Marsom, October 28, 2011

Healthy food. Sustainable farming. In addition to supporting the public’s health, did you know that these strategies also provide important solutions to climate change?

The agriculture sector produces approximately 6% of California’s greenhouse gas emissions, due to chemical farming inputs, emissions from livestock, and the long distance transporting of foods. At the same time, conventional food systems overproduce crops that are largely used to produce sugars and fats, which contribute directly to the obesity epidemic. Increasing access to healthy foods grown by a more environmentally sound agricultural system can play a significant role in both mitigating climate change and promoting human health, thus providing co-benefits for both health and the environment. Protecting community-based nutrition programs and promoting sustainable local farming practices through the Farm Bill is a key strategy in the effort to promote diet-related climate change co-benefits. Yet support for these programs may be at risk, as the 2012 Farm Bill is rushed through Congress during the current deficit reduction process.

On October 24, 2011, PHI participated in Food Day, a national dialogue about food, farms and the American food system that advocates for the transformation of the American diet. Calling for U.S. farm policies in favor of sustainable agriculture, small and mid-sized farms, and fair conditions for agricultural laborers, Food Day focused on the goal of making fresh, healthy food accessible for all people. In addition, PHI spearheaded a joint communication to Congress urging it to spare critical nutrition and sustainability programs. Join us in advocating for healthier communities, a healthier food system, and a healthy and sustainable climate.

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Tags: Agriculture, Climate Mitigation

Powerful documentary reveals hardship wrought by climate change in real families’ lives

by Suzanne Petroni, October 24, 2011

I just watched Weathering Change, a powerful new documentary on climate change and women, produced by our colleagues at Population Action International (PAI). As someone who’s written and spoken about the linkages between climate change and population growth (see, for example, this piece for Global Change), I was eager to see how PAI communicated the very real impacts that climate change is having on women and families around the world.

The short film introduces us to women in Nepal, Peru and Ethiopia who share the impacts that a changing climate is already having on their daily lives. Shifting agricultural patterns, diminishing water supplies and, in two of three cases, migration from their homes challenge them to provide adequate nutrition and water for their families, even as they work harder every day to do so. These challenges lead them to realize, perhaps more than ever, that they must be able to control their fertility – to decide freely and responsibly whether to bring more children into the increasingly difficult situations they face.

As told through the heartfelt words of these women, their challenges – as well as their needs and desires - become very real. With apologies to deniers, climate change is not a hypothetical for them – it is a reality, and it is one that is making their already demanding lives even more so. As Aragash Ayele of Ethiopia says so eloquently, “A woman’s life is hard, and climate change is making it harder.”

Well said, Aragash, and well done, PAI.