By Timothy Fields, Jr.
About the author: Timothy Fields, Jr. is Senior Vice President of MDB, Inc., a public health and environmental management consulting firm in Washington, D.C. Previously, Tim served as EPA Assistant Administrator in charge of environmental cleanup, waste management, and emergency response (1997-2001).
A diverse range of federal and local stakeholders engage in discussions about the health effects of climate change on vulnerable populations.
Photo: HHS
Climate change is one of the major public health challenges of our time. Certain individuals and communities are especially vulnerable, including children, the elderly, the sick, low-income residents, and people of color. As the conversation about climate change has grown, a new emphasis on climate justice has emerged, focusing on the health impacts of climate change on vulnerable communities. Climate justice has become a high priority focus of the environmental justice movement.
Recent calls for action to address the public health dangers of climate change have been joined by leaders such as President Barack Obama, Pope Francis, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, and U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy. They and many other leaders agree that climate change is impacting communities across the country and around the globe, particularly those communities already disproportionately impacted by environmental hazards and social conditions.
This June, more than 100 people from a variety of government agencies, community organizations, academic institutions, and businesses came together in North Carolina to discuss the health effects of climate change as they relate to vulnerable populations. Convened by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the 2015 HHS Climate Justice Conference encouraged stakeholders to share community challenges and priorities, as well as promising approaches and opportunities for collaboration for responding to emerging health effects.
Although the conference focused on the strategic elements described in the 2012 HHS Environmental Justice Strategy and Implementation Plan, the dialogue reflected the larger conversation around climate justice. Federal staff highlighted federal efforts to build climate resilience and promote climate justice. Representatives of community groups not only offered on-the-ground examples of how climate change is impacting vulnerable communities, they pointed to how they are mobilizing to educate and empower communities to take action. Other stakeholders discussed tools and resources designed to help communities better understand the health impacts of climate change and become more resilient to these impacts.
Key themes highlighted during the conference include:
- All stakeholders have a role in responding to the emerging health threats of climate change.
- Community organizations and environmental justice representatives are mobilizing to educate and empower communities to take action.
- Vulnerable communities need to be actively involved as programs, policies, and activities are developed and implemented to ensure climate justice.
- Strategies are needed regarding how federal agencies could provide additional resources to increase the capacity of communities to address climate justice concerns.
- Mechanisms should be developed to support workers who live and work in communities disproportionately affected by environmental hazards and are most vulnerable to climate change impacts.
- Relationships with communities should be established as climate change research is conducted, employing mechanisms such as citizen science and community-engaged research to help empower communities to develop useful information.
Participants also discussed the need to achieve more equitable distribution of technical and financial assistance in the face of limited local resources for addressing climate change. To achieve this, it is important that government agencies better coordinate and share information about climate resiliency services.
The 2015 HHS Climate Justice Conference is part of the ongoing dialogue about environmental justice and climate change, occurring 21 years after the signing of the Presidential Executive Order on Environmental Justice and two years after the issuance of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan. The dialogue among all stakeholders about climate justice and public health must continue. I encourage you to continue to engage and take appropriate actions to address the health impacts of climate change.
Check out the 2015 HHS Climate Justice Conference Report and other conference materials, including a video from the meeting: http://ift.tt/1Y7pDfp
from The EPA Blog http://ift.tt/1Qynven
By Timothy Fields, Jr.
About the author: Timothy Fields, Jr. is Senior Vice President of MDB, Inc., a public health and environmental management consulting firm in Washington, D.C. Previously, Tim served as EPA Assistant Administrator in charge of environmental cleanup, waste management, and emergency response (1997-2001).
A diverse range of federal and local stakeholders engage in discussions about the health effects of climate change on vulnerable populations.
Photo: HHS
Climate change is one of the major public health challenges of our time. Certain individuals and communities are especially vulnerable, including children, the elderly, the sick, low-income residents, and people of color. As the conversation about climate change has grown, a new emphasis on climate justice has emerged, focusing on the health impacts of climate change on vulnerable communities. Climate justice has become a high priority focus of the environmental justice movement.
Recent calls for action to address the public health dangers of climate change have been joined by leaders such as President Barack Obama, Pope Francis, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, and U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy. They and many other leaders agree that climate change is impacting communities across the country and around the globe, particularly those communities already disproportionately impacted by environmental hazards and social conditions.
This June, more than 100 people from a variety of government agencies, community organizations, academic institutions, and businesses came together in North Carolina to discuss the health effects of climate change as they relate to vulnerable populations. Convened by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the 2015 HHS Climate Justice Conference encouraged stakeholders to share community challenges and priorities, as well as promising approaches and opportunities for collaboration for responding to emerging health effects.
Although the conference focused on the strategic elements described in the 2012 HHS Environmental Justice Strategy and Implementation Plan, the dialogue reflected the larger conversation around climate justice. Federal staff highlighted federal efforts to build climate resilience and promote climate justice. Representatives of community groups not only offered on-the-ground examples of how climate change is impacting vulnerable communities, they pointed to how they are mobilizing to educate and empower communities to take action. Other stakeholders discussed tools and resources designed to help communities better understand the health impacts of climate change and become more resilient to these impacts.
Key themes highlighted during the conference include:
- All stakeholders have a role in responding to the emerging health threats of climate change.
- Community organizations and environmental justice representatives are mobilizing to educate and empower communities to take action.
- Vulnerable communities need to be actively involved as programs, policies, and activities are developed and implemented to ensure climate justice.
- Strategies are needed regarding how federal agencies could provide additional resources to increase the capacity of communities to address climate justice concerns.
- Mechanisms should be developed to support workers who live and work in communities disproportionately affected by environmental hazards and are most vulnerable to climate change impacts.
- Relationships with communities should be established as climate change research is conducted, employing mechanisms such as citizen science and community-engaged research to help empower communities to develop useful information.
Participants also discussed the need to achieve more equitable distribution of technical and financial assistance in the face of limited local resources for addressing climate change. To achieve this, it is important that government agencies better coordinate and share information about climate resiliency services.
The 2015 HHS Climate Justice Conference is part of the ongoing dialogue about environmental justice and climate change, occurring 21 years after the signing of the Presidential Executive Order on Environmental Justice and two years after the issuance of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan. The dialogue among all stakeholders about climate justice and public health must continue. I encourage you to continue to engage and take appropriate actions to address the health impacts of climate change.
Check out the 2015 HHS Climate Justice Conference Report and other conference materials, including a video from the meeting: http://ift.tt/1Y7pDfp
from The EPA Blog http://ift.tt/1Qynven
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