Climate 411

This post is by John Balbus, M.D., M.P.H., Chief Health Scientist at Environmental Defense Fund.

Last week was National Public Health Week, with a focus on how climate change harms health. The week’s activities flowed from the public health community into the Congress.

In the House, Center for Disease Control’s Howard Frumkin detailed the dangers to human health posed by climate change. In the Senate, Senator Kennedy’s Health, Education, Labor and Pension (H.E.L.P.) committee also held hearings on climate change and health.

I was invited to give testimony before the H.E.L.P committee about the gaps in public health preparedness for climate change, based on a survey and upcoming report I wrote on the topic. Here are some of the highlights. My full testimony [PDF] is posted on our Web site.

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This post is by Sheryl Canter, an online writer and editorial manager at Environmental Defense Fund.

At a congressional hearing on Wednesday, Howard Frumkin, a senior official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said there was strong scientific evidence of major health problems due to climate change in the next few decades, including:

• Heat waves that put children and the elderly at risk
• Danger of droughts and floods from extreme weather
• Increased food-borne and water-borne infectious diseases
• Worsened air pollution due to higher temperatures
• Migration into new areas of vector-borne diseases like malaria

At least he got to say it. Last October, CDC testimony on the health risks from global warming was censored by the White House.

Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif), who chaired the hearing, said she suspected that "a layer of screening" continues to limit what CDC officials are allowed to say.

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This post is by Sheryl Canter, an online writer and editorial manager at Environmental Defense Fund.

Happily, actions that promote a healthy environment also tend to promote personal health. Using muscle power for transportation by walking and biking gives you the best kind of exercise, and also reduces your carbon footprint. Drinking tap water rather than bottled gives you clean water at one-thousandth the price.

You can use the money you save by avoiding bottled water to make better food choices – in particular, organic produce and dairy from grassfed animals. It also helps both you and the environment to avoid processed foods and foods with heavy packaging.

For more ideas, check out our article Tips for a Healthy, Low-Carbon Life, part of our coverage of National Public Health Week and the impact of climate change on our nation’s health.

This post is by Sheryl Canter, an online writer and editorial manager at Environmental Defense Fund.

Global warming can endanger your health in many different ways. The more intense storms it brings not only cause direct loss of life, but also illness and death from contaminated food and water. Heat waves can cause lethal heat strokes, and also ozone smog that triggers breathing problems.

For more on where the dangers lie and what you can do to protect yourself, check out our article on Health Dangers from a Warming Planet, part of our coverage of National Public Health Week and the impact of climate change on our nation’s health.