Protecting the Health and Well-Being of Communities in a Changing Climate Proceedings of a Workshop (2018) / Chapter Skim
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2 Setting the Stage
2 Setting the Stage
Pages 5-24
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From page 5... ...
Following his presentation, Patz participated in an open discussion with the audience. A wide range of topics were addressed, including how health professionals and urban planners can work together; implications of geographic variation in indoor versus outdoor air pollution; tree canopy spread as a mitigation strategy; the return on investing in green energy; populations that are particularly vulnerable to the health effects of climate change (children, elderly, the poor)
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From page 6... ...
, reminded the audience that just 2 weeks prior to this workshop, people were walking around Washington, DC, without coats, some in shorts, in contrast to the large snow storm forecast for the day after the workshop. "No one is going to tell you for sure that that's related to climate change," Benjamin said, but he encouraged workshop participants to keep in mind, over the course of the day, that such huge climate shifts and environmental changes are being observed right now, with many records being broken.
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From page 7... ...
The Year of Climate Change and Health APHA declared 2017 the year of "Climate Change and Health," a declaration, Benjamin explained, with two goals. One is to raise awareness by educating people that climate change is a public health issue and not just an environmental issue.
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From page 8... ...
He thanked former Vice President Al Gore for co-hosting the meeting, as part of Gore's Climate Reality Project, and acknowledged the other co-hosts as well: Harvard Global Health Institute, University of Wisconsin Global Health Institute, and University of Washington Center for Health & the Global Environment. In addition to these co-hosts, the meeting drew more than 50 partners.
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From page 9... ...
"We're trying to get the average American to understand that," he said, so people can say to the resource allocators, "We need to have these systems, these programs, these regulations in place." THE GLOBAL CLIMATE CRISIS: LARGE HEALTH RISKS AND OPPORTUNITIES2 Jonathan Patz's presentation set the stage for the remainder of the workshop, beginning with a description of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's future projections for average surface temperatures across the globe (IPCC, 2013)
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From page 10... ...
. Patz cautioned that it is very difficult to attribute environmental refugees to climatic events, but suggested that a drought or sea-level rise that forces population movement could be the "iceberg under the tip of the iceberg as far as the extent of impact." In addition to these listed highly climate-sensitive health outcomes, he noted that new findings emerge "every day." For example, recent studies out of Southeast Asia show increases in hypertension and preeclampsia associated with sea-level rise and salinization of freshwater aquifers.
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From page 11... ...
Based on what he and colleagues have observed with respect to surface temperatures in South America associated with the 2015 El Niño, Patz suspects that it had at least something to do with the recent emergence of Zika in South America. Hydrological Extremes: Examples of Health Impact Patz reiterated that climate change encompasses more than global warming -- it also includes extremes in the hydrological cycle.
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From page 12... ...
According to Patz, potential effects like these are one reason why President Obama began talking about climate change as a national security issue. Changing the Framing of Climate Change In addition to President Obama's reframing of climate change as a national security issue, there have been efforts to reframe climate change in other ways as well, Patz continued.
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From page 13... ...
He discussed each sector in turn. The Energy Sector With respect to potential public health-related policy changes in the energy sector, Patz referred to the World Health Organization estimates of more than 3 million people dying prematurely every year from outdoor air pollution, mostly from urban exposures, and more than 4 million people dying prematurely every year from indoor air pollution, largely from inefficient cookstoves that use biomass (e.g., firewood)
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From page 14... ...
investment by 26 to 1,050 percent. In other words, Patz explained, the health benefits could be up to 10 times greater than the economic cost of investments in green technology.
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From page 15... ...
reported that not only would reducing meat consumption by half cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 to 40 percent, but it would also reduce saturated fat in the diet by 40 percent, thereby increasing cardiovascular health. Transportation and Urban Planning In a 2016 study published in The Lancet, NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RIsC, 2016)
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From page 16... ...
We have a ‘sick-care' system. A health care system extends far beyond medical centers and includes safe routes to school, clean air and water, and flourishing healthy communities." He then cited several epidemiological studies showing that designing communities to promote physical fitness could have huge health gains, including reductions in cardiovascular disease (Hamer and Chida, 2008)
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From page 17... ...
In conclusion, Patz emphasized that addressing the global climate crisis through a low-carbon economy, especially across the energy sector, with the food system, and in transportation and urban planning, can help make people healthier and save money. "Doing something urgently about the global climate crisis," he said, "could be the largest public health opportunity we've had in a very long time." DISCUSSION Following his presentation, Patz answered questions from the audience touching on multiple themes.
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From page 18... ...
She observed that science is increasingly attributing many severe weather events to climate change, yet, she said, "We're still very cautious, I think, as a community about being clear to the public about that." Patz replied, "We should not be thinking either/or," meaning either adapt or mitigate. In his view, communities need to take a two-pronged
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From page 19... ...
In addition to being prepared, at the same time, he said, "We also need to go upstream and be mitigating the root problem to reduce fossil fuel emissions." Air Pollution Phyllis Meadows of the Kresge Foundation asked Patz whether the fact that indoor air quality is contributing to more deaths worldwide compared with outdoor air quality threatens "the narrative" and whether indoor and outdoor air quality issues should be discussed in tandem to engage a broader audience. Patz replied that, depending on where in the world you live, the intervention and health benefit will be different.
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From page 20... ...
He wondered whether any work being done with social impact bonds6 has shown similar returns, adding that he was unaware of a similar level of return for bonds in the areas of early childhood or criminal justice. Patz replied, "It's no surprise, really, the $30 versus $200." He recalled that when EPA's Clean Air Act required benefit-cost assessments, it was discovered that every $1 investment in clean air returns $30 or more.
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From page 21... ...
Patz replied that the fact that the Syrian Civil War was preceded by the worst drought in instrumental record makes it very difficult to tease out the impact of climate change. The extreme environmental conditions of climate change -- not just drought, but also sea-level rise -- push people around a lot, he said.
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From page 22... ...
Talk instead about extremes in climate variability, water stress, or heat waves. Instead of talking about interventions to mitigate climate change, talk about reducing fossil fuel combustion and the immediate health benefits of doing so (i.e., better food quality, exercise promotion, cleaner air quality)
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From page 23... ...
, and said the most trusted professionals in the United States are nurses (the Climate and Health Alliance represents health care professionals from a range of disciplines, including nurses)
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