Climate Change and Health Series - Introduction
The next (tentatively) five posts will focus on the intersection of climate change and public health. This is an area of great personal interest/concern, which I have had the opportunity to work in directly through professional roles and a grad school practicum project over the past few years. A brief overview, reason(s) for series and topics to be covered are below.
Overview
Climate change presents diverse threats to human health. The World Health Organization estimates that increased extreme heat, precipitation, weather events and other symptoms of climate change contribute to more than 150,000 annual deaths worldwide, a number which is projected to rise above 250,000 by 2030. Populations in areas of greatest risk, such as rural sub-Saharan Africa and Asia have contributed the least to climate change.
Motivation
I want to explore climate change and health for several reasons:
· A new policy era: The Biden Administration has committed to addressing climate change after a near total retreat from action over the past four years. This includes rolling back Obama-era environmental and emission regulations, installing energy industry lobbyists at EPA/Interior and exiting the Paris Climate Accord.
· Resources: There is a growing body of research on the effects of climate change on global public health. For example, last week The Lancet released a comprehensive report on climate change and health impacts across 43 indicators, summarizing the findings of leading academic institutions and UN agencies. Additionally, significant resources are available through the UN, National Institutes of Health, CDC, academic institutions including the Climate Impacts Group (University of Washington) here Washington State.
· Excuse/opportunity to review latest climate change/health research: :)
Topics*
· Impacts
· Vulnerabilities
· Mitigation/adaptation strategies
· Management and policy
· Communication
*topics may be updated
For next post: Climate Change and Health Impacts