September 27, 2024 — Today marks the end of Climate Group’s 2024 Climate Week in New York, and the Department of Environmental Health was well represented among the many panels and discussions, with appearances from Joe Allen, Vanessa Kerry, Gaurab Basu, Caleb Dresser, and Skye Flanigan. We had the chance to catch up briefly with Joe Allen and Skye Flanigan about how the week went. Read their answers below, as well as highlights from #ClimateWeekNYC 2024!
Joe Allen
Dr. Allen and Dr. Lauren Ferguson (postdoctoral Fellow on the Healthy Buildings team) were part of the Climate Group’s Climate Week Executive Series and participated in a Roundtable on: Building resilience: Putting people first using holistic approaches to renovation.
Joe Allen shares, “This photo (above) is of Lauren and I in front of the new JPMorganChase Headquarters building in New York. I advised JPMC on the design of this building, which is the first all-electric tower in NYC, and it also has enhanced ventilation and filtration, healthier materials, and real-time monitoring, showing you can have both a healthy and green building!”
What was your biggest takeaway from #ClimateWeekNYC ?
Buildings account for 40% of global energy consumption – and in New York City, where Climate Week was held, it’s 70%. And, yet, you had to work to find the buildings conversations during the week. Addressing climate change runs through our buildings, so I would love to see this being a more central theme going forward.
What do you think should be number one on a global Climate To Do list ?
There isn’t a “#1” – this is an “all-in” moment. We need to focus [our research] on adaptation, resilience, mitigation, building decarbonization, and new technologies… all with an equity and health lens.
Why is climate change so important to be part of the Public Health conversation?
I’d flip this – it’s critical that public health is part of the climate change conversation because our science and our values and our focus and our passionate students have a vital role to play.
Skye Flanigan
Skye Flanigan, Program Director Harvard Chan C-CHANGE spoke on a panel hosted by BSR on “The Climate & Health Nexus: Embedding Equity through Community Engagement”, alongside Phil Dahlin, Global Director of Sustainability at Johnson & Johnson, among others.
What was your biggest takeaway from #ClimateWeekNYC ?
The feeling on the ground is that we are at half-time toward solving the climate crisis and there is still much more to be done… There was also a lot of talk about the use of AI, and the need for better measurements and benchmarking on the health impacts of climate change.
What do you think should be number one on a global Climate To Do list ?
It is imperative that we focus on adaptation strategies and solutions because climate change is not in the future – it is here now, and the extreme weather events that we are currently dealing with around the world are putting communities’ health and wellbeing at risk.
Why is climate change so important to be part of the Public Health conversation?
Climate change is accelerating the health disparities that have already existed in the world. We need to be thinking critically about how to address those disparities.
Some More EH Highlights from the Week:
Gaurab Basu
Dr. Basu joined the “Climate Rx: Preventive Healthcare and Decarbonization” panel at the New York Times Climate Forward Summit to talk about ways we can engage in preventative healthcare for climate solutions. The annual event focuses on frank discussions about political and policy challenges, and new technologies that might help curb global warming. Watch Dr. Basu speak in the panel here.
Dr. Basu also joined an AAMC discussion on how academic medical centers & community partners can address climate change and promote environmental justice.
Caleb Dresser
Dr. Dresser met with the Americares team, who collaborated with C-CHANGE on the Climate Resilience for Frontline Clinics Toolkit.
Vanessa Kerry
Dr. Kerry spoke to the United Nations General Assembly, at one of the few climate change and health events to happen at an UNGA; incredibly the last one was five years ago! At the UN meeting, the World Health Organization brought together the past, present and future COP presidencies – as well as Ministers from other member states – to discuss continued collaboration and progress on climate change and health.
Dr. Kerry wrote on Instagram of the meeting, “This is not just a health issue anymore. It is an everything issue – our economic, social and national security depends on good health.”
