Download Climate Impacts: An Overview of the Third National Climate

Climate Change and Human
Health
Lesley Jantarasami
EPA Office of Air and Radiation
Office of Atmospheric Programs
May 21, 2015
Presentation to the National Tribal Forum
Climate change is a public health issue and is
one of the greatest threats to human health.
Lynn Goldman, Testimony to Subcommittee on Energy and Power,
Representing American Public Health Association
Few Americans are aware of the current or
projected future health impacts of global
warming [for the U.S. or worldwide].
Public Perceptions of the Health Consequences of Global Warming,
Yale Project on Climate Change Communication
For public health, climate
change is the defining issue
for the 21st century.
Margaret Chan: Director General of
World Health Organization
US Global Change Research Program
(USGCRP)
 Mission: To build a knowledge base that informs human
responses to climate and global change through coordinated
and integrated federal programs of research, education,
communication, and decision support
USGCRP Climate and Health Assessment
Motivation
Purpose
Audience
The cast = lots of acronyms

Product of USGCRP

Part of NCA

Driven by CCHHG

Coordinated by EPA

Written by HHS (NIH, CDC,
NIOSH, ASPR, FDA, SAMHSA,
USUHS, VA), NOAA, EPA, USDA,
NASA, USGS, DOD…
What’s in
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Climate Change and Human Health (Intro)
Temperature-Related Death and Illness
Air Quality Impacts
Vectorborne Disease
Water-Related Illnesses
Food Safety, Nutrition, and Distribution
Extreme Weather
Mental Health and Well-Being
Risk Factors and Populations of Concern
What’s out

Mitigation, adaptation, or economic valuation

Policy recommendations

Most compounding, secondary, or cumulative
climate and health effects

Assessment of research needs
Informing other Federal Climate and
Health Initiatives
Climate Data Initiative (climate.data.gov)
• Over 150 Federal climate and health datasets that are freely accessible to
researchers and data innovators to produce new tools and applications.
Climate Resilience Toolkit (toolkit.climate.gov)
• Provides scientific tools, information, and expertise to help people manage their
climate-related risks and improve resiliency to extreme events.
Sustainable Climate Resilience Healthcare Facilities Initiative
• Best Practices Guide and Toolkit to improve healthcare resiliency to extreme events.
An “interim report”
• To be published between the Third and
Fourth National Climate Assessments
• Current plan for release is Spring 2016
– After National Research Council (NRC) peer review
– After interagency review and clearance
Strengthens and expands our
understanding of health impacts
• Updated Findings
• Stronger Evidence
• New analyses
• Broader Scope
• Identifies Risks and Vulnerabilities
www.globalchange.gov/health-assessment
Climate change
• is a significant threat to the health of the
American people
• exposes more people in more places to
public health threats
• exacerbates and accelerates some existing
health threats and creates new public
health challenges
Draft Findings
CLIMATE DRIVERS
•
•
•
•
NON-CLIMATE
STRESSORS
•
•
•
•
•
Land-use change
Ecosystem degradation
Infrastructure condition
Geography
Agricultural production
& livestock use
Increased temperature
Precipitation extremes
Extreme weather events
Sea level rise
EXPOSURE PATHWAYS
•
•
•
•
•
Extreme heat
Poor air quality
Reduced food & water quality
Changes in infectious agents
Population displacement
SOCIAL
DETERMINANTS
•
•
•
•
Age & gender
Race & Ethnicity
Poverty
Housing &
infrastructure
• Education
• Discrimination
• Access to care &
community health
infrastructure
HEALTH OUTCOMES
• Heat-related illness
• Cardiopulmonary illness
• Food-, water-, & vectorborne
disease
• Mental health consequences
& stress
Draft Findings
Temperature-Related Death and Illness
Increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases lead to a
warming of both average and extreme temperatures. This is
expected to lead to a decrease in deaths from cold and an
increase in deaths and illness from heat, particularly for a
number of communities especially vulnerable to these changes,
such as children, the elderly, and disadvantaged groups.
Draft Findings
Air Quality Impacts
Changes in the climate affect the air we breathe both indoors
and outdoors. The changing climate has modified weather
patterns, which in turn have influenced the levels and location
of outdoor air pollutants such as ground-level ozone and fine
particulate matter. Increasing CO2 levels will also promote the
growth of plants that release airborne allergens.
Draft Findings
Vectorborne Diseases
The seasonality, distribution, and prevalence of vectorborne
diseases are influenced significantly by climate factors,
primarily high and low temperature extremes and precipitation
patterns. Climate change is likely to have both short- and longterm effects on vectorborne disease transmission and infection
patterns, affecting both seasonal risk and broad geographic
changes in disease occurrence over decades.
Draft Findings
Water-Related Illness
Across most of the United States, climate change is expected to
affect fresh and marine water sources in ways that will increase
people’s exposure to contaminants that cause illness. Certain
climate and weather factors enhance the growth, survival,
spread, and virulence, or toxicity, of water-related pathogens
and toxins, which make them more likely to cause disease.
Draft Findings
Food Safety, Nutrition, and Distribution
Draft Findings
Extreme Weather
Climate change has already resulted in a shift in the
frequency, intensity, and duration of certain extreme events.
Health hazards associated with extreme events can result in
death, injury, disease, and other negative effects on human
physical, mental, and social well-being.
Draft Findings
Mental Health and Well-Being
Draft Findings
Climate-Health Risk Factors & Populations of Concern
Populations of concern include those with low income, communities
of color, those with limited English proficiency and immigrant
groups, Indigenous peoples, children and pregnant women, older
adults, certain occupational groups, persons with functional
disabilities, and persons with biologically determined vulnerability,
such as pre-existing or chronic medical conditions.
Draft Findings
Climate-Health Risk Factors & Populations of Concern
Spotlight on Indigenous Peoples Section of Chapter
–
–
–
–
Food Safety and Security
Water Security
Loss of Cultural Identity
Degraded infrastructure and other impacts
Draft Findings
Photo: US DOI
Photos: Mark Henle/The Arizona Republic
Demonstration of the USGCRP Public
Review and Comment System
Submit Comments: April 7 – June 8 (by noon EDT)
https://review.globalchange.gov
Thank You!
Contact me at: [email protected]
www.globalchange.gov/health-assessment
review.globalchange.gov