During Climate Week 2019, Gina McCarthy of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health was featured in numerous media outlets discussing the urgency of fighting climate change.
McCarthy, EPA administrator under President Obama and now director of the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment (C-CHANGE) at Harvard Chan School, co-authored a September 26, 2019 opinion piece in the Washington Post newsletter “The Lily” with 17-year-old climate activist Saya Ameli Hajebi. In the article, McCarthy and Hajebi wrote that they are both optimistic about the climate fight. “Why? Because of young people,” they wrote. “They are standing up and demanding change.”
In a September 26 Nexus Media interview, McCarthy talked about inequality related to climate change—how poor and urban areas tend to fare worst when it comes to carbon pollution. She decried current federal efforts to roll back environmental regulations, and suggested that corporate interests, like the fossil fuel industry, have too much sway over climate-related policies.
In a September 27 interview on MSNBC, McCarthy criticized the lack of U.S. leadership in reducing fossil fuel emissions. Not only does this lack of participation undermine global efforts to reduce carbon in the atmosphere, it also means that the U.S. may miss out on economic opportunities presented by clean energy technologies, she said.
McCarthy also appeared on “Real Time with Bill Maher” on September 27. “We have reached a tipping point” on the climate change issue, she said. “We’re not going to tolerate it anymore.”
Read “The Lily” opinion piece: We come from different nations and generations, but we’re allies in the climate right. Here’s why we’re optimistic.
Read the Nexus Media interview: Obama’s EPA Chief: ‘Sometimes You Need to Listen to the Kids’
Listen to the MSNBC interview: Trump briefly drops by U.N. climate meeting
Watch the “Real Time with Bill Maher” interview: Gina McCarthy: Climate Tipping Point