Leveraging science from across Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health and beyond, the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment made climate change a health issue and spurred action by making it personal, actionable, and urgent. We're excited to continue this work and make even more progress in 2020!
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Turning Evidence into Action
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Using Science to Inform Policy Decisions
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We inform the design of climate actions that maximize health benefits, particularly for those most vulnerable. This year we found:
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Every child born today will be affected by climate change, but we still have time to create a healthier future.
Our research Fellow and emergency physician
Dr. Renee Salas
co-authored the 2019 Lancet Countdown report’s
U.S. Policy Brief
, which recommends mitigation and adaptation strategies to avert catastrophe. In advance of the release, we worked with reporters and Climate Nexus to set up a press call with our Director Gina McCarthy and Dr. Salas. The report appeared in over 1200 news outlets with a resonant top-line warning of impacts to kids' health.
Read the report,
press release,
Associated Press
article,
and
case study
.
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Many more people live closer to underground gas storage wells than previously thought.
As a response to the Interagency Task Force on Natural Gas Storage Safety to quantify the risks of underground natural gas storage wells, our researcher
Drew Michanowicz
found that an estimated 53,000 people in predominantly suburban areas of six states live within a city block of active wells. Read
the study
,
press release
,
The New Republic article
and
case study
.
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Where we install renewable energy matters more than what type when it comes to climate and health benefits.
Our researcher
Jonathan Buonocore’s
study discovered where to build wind and solar energy in the U.S. to curb climate change faster and make people healthier. The study serves as a guide for policymakers designing climate plans and for utility and investors making business decisions, and appeared in 34 media stories in national, local and trade publications. Read
the study
,
press release
,
Reuters article,
and
case study
.
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Modernizing transportation systems in the U.S. offers important opportunities to slow climate change, improve human health, and alleviate inequities.
Through our Transportation, Equity, Climate, and Health Study (
TRECH Study
), we are analyzing how different policies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions could improve people’s lives in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. We are collaborating with Boston University and the University of North Carolina to assess health consequences, equity concerns, and downwind impacts of potential policies proposed by the
Transportation and Climate Initiative
.
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Shining a Light on Health Impacts of Federal Policy Proposals
When new policy proposals are in the works, we jump into action
. We translate the research and bring it to key audiences to ensure that sound science is part of the policy conversation.
Some of our key findings this year included:
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The EPA’s proposed replacement for the Clean Power Plan (CPP) is worse for climate and health than no carbon regulations at all.
Our study
unveiled the EPA's Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule’s harmful impact on emissions, health, and states’ efforts to meet their climate goals. It appeared in most major
news outlets
, was
cited by legal experts
, and became the
focus of questions
asked of the EPA Administrator during his Senate confirmation hearing. Our Director Gina McCarthy joined two former colleagues at EPA who helped design the CPP in a powerful
Newsweek op-ed
.
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EPA's proposed rollback of Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) did not take into account the local impacts and social cost of mercury pollution.
In advance of the proposal by EPA to weaken MATS, we prepared a
science brief
for policymakers and journalists, and arranged a press call to ensure accurate reporting on the health and environmental effects of mercury. Most major
news stories
on the proposed rollback incorporated our messages. We joined Harvard Law School to submit
public comments
opposing the rule.
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Taking Science to The Hill
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This year, we brought our message directly to Congress so policymakers can make healthier decisions.
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“I’ve seen children whose lungs were so contaminated by pollution they could not breathe. I’ve seen children who no longer have the will to live after surviving floods that washed away their homes and their peace of mind. I’ve held infants whose brains were infected with Zika and what ties this all together is our reliance on fossil fuels, which when extracted from the earth and are burned, damage our children’s health.”
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"I’m here to remind the political leadership at the EPA that what they do matters, and it’s time for them to step up and to do their jobs. Just do your jobs."
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Translating Science To Make Climate Personal and Urgent
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By highlighting solutions and emphasizing the important role we all play in driving change, we put health at the center of climate actions.
Starting with the launch of our monthly newsletter,
The Climate Optimist
, we engage and empower key audiences to become successful climate leaders.
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This year we ensured more storytelling and coverage of meaningful and effective climate actions
by:
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Training journalists:
To give editors and reporters the tools they need to identify new stories, use health as a frame, and focus on solutions, we created strategic partnerships with media organizations to build original programming and participate in professional development events, including:
- A 3-day intensive Covering Climate Change workshop with support from the MacArthur and Nieman Foundations. Read the case study.
- Customized trainings for Report for America and the Association of Healthcare Journalists.
- In-person trainings at the Kavli Science Editing Workshop, MIT Knight Science Journalism, and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
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Editorial planning.
We provide advice and story ideas to help media organizations think through their climate and health coverage. A few examples include the Covering Climate Now Initiative, Boston Globe, Inside EPA, WBUR, Kaiser Health News, and the Weather Channel.
Working with Hollywood:
Our new collaboration with the Environmental Media Association (EMA) bridges the gap between academia and popular culture, ensuring the most recent and relevant science gets into the hands of creatives to make climate change personal and actionable. We provide the expertise on climate and health messages, and EMA gets this information to people in the entertainment industry who can incorporate it into television, film, podcasts and social media.
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Doctors are trusted advisors and effective messengers. We engage them through our:
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Climate MD Program:
This year we
launched a new program
to engage, support, and empower medical professionals to turn awareness of the health threats posed by climate change into actions that improve health today.
Resident Yerby Fellow:
This year renowned thought leader and emergency medicine physician
Dr. Renee Salas
joined us for a 2-year fellowship translating the impact of the climate crisis on health and health care delivery through research, education, and outreach.
Climate and Human Health Fellowship:
Together with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, we launched a
Climate and Human Health Fellowship
. This program will train physicians in evidence-based policies to help build climate-resilient communities and health systems.
Dr. Caleb Dresser
joined us as the first fellow on this program.
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We empower young people to be climate leaders and provide mentorship by:
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Launching the Student Ambassadors Program:
This year-long program selects students from each department at Harvard Chan School to act as liaisons and think critically about climate change and the potential impacts on their fields of study.
Hosting skills-based workshops and lecture series:
To equip students with critical skills related to communications, policy, management, and leadership, we host workshops and lectures designed to help them become effective agents of change.
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Elevating student activists:
We support the wave of youth demanding climate action. This year, our Director Gina McCarthy spoke at the
Zero Hour summit
in Miami and the Boston Climate Strike, sat down with young leaders to
talk climate
on WBUR, and
penned an op-ed
with one of the organizers of the Boston Climate Strike. We also provided ongoing media relations support to many of these youth leaders.
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This year we launched our Kids and Climate program to share information about how parents and caregivers can better protect kids from the impacts of climate change.
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Child-focused impacts:
We translated studies into
short fact sheets and videos
to show how climate solutions and transitioning to clean energy can protect children from dangerous pollutants and help them live healthier lives.
A doctor’s guide to health in a changing climate:
Our Co-director Dr. Aaron Bernstein's
new monthly column
in
Coverage
explores the ways health and health care are affected by climate change, and highlights how families can help protect their children.
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Thank you for your support and see you in 2020!
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