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Climate Solutions are Health Solutions

Puerto Rico emerges as 'incubator' for disaster preparedness efforts

Puerto Rico has struggled with recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, which killed 3,057 in the Caribbean in September 2017. In partnership with government, philanthropists, and business, Puerto Rico is forging the way in implementing safeguards and disaster procedures.

House Democrats unveil environmental justice bill

The Hill

“For far too long, communities of color, low-income communities and tribal and indigenous communities have not been a meaningful voice in the decisionmaking process impacting their well-being. Not with this bill,” Rep. Donald McEachin (D-Va.)

There’s a push to increase fines for Colorado polluters and directly help impacted communities

AP

A new bill at Colorado’s Capitol aims to nearly triple to quadruple penalties for air and water quality violations and to send the collected fines directly to the communities that are impacted by the environmental violations.

Interview with Gary Cohen: Making Health Care Healthier

GMMB

Gary Cohen is the president and co-founder of Health Care Without Harm and Practice Greenhealth. His interviews reflects on how health professionals and health philanthropists should be working to address health equity and the climate crisis.

Here’s how medical schools are adapting

MarketWatch

Wisconsin is just one of roughly two dozen medical schools leading — although only typically by offering a few courses — in the training of physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other practitioners who will take to the front lines of diagnosing and treating the impact of climate change.

Bill and Melinda Gates add climate change and gender equality to their foundation’s focus

G rist

The foundation has historically worked on improving global health and U.S. education and has more recently begun investments in climate and gender-equality programs.

Climate City: WNC Researchers Delve Into Climate Change & Health

Blue Ridge Public Radio

An interview with two public health researchers in North Carolina who are focusing their work on how climate change impacts health. The two are also members of the newly formed Western North Carolina Health and Climate Working Group.

Climate Change is Harming Our Health

How Death and Disaster Followed the Shale Gas Boom in Appalachia

Eos.org

In the past decade, fracking has contributed to the deaths of more than a thousand people and the emission of more than a thousand tons of carbon dioxide in the Appalachian Basin.

The world is failing to ensure children have a 'liveable planet', report finds

T he Guardian

Children in biggest carbon-emitting nations are healthiest, while those with tiny environmental footprints suffer twofold from poor health and living at the sharp end of the climate crisis.

Some Communities are Being Harmed First and Worst

Cities Fighting Climate Woes Hasten 'Green Gentrification'

WIRED

Seawalls, parks, and elevated buildings can protect against rising tides. But they can also push the price of housing up, and longtime residents out.

'Without water we can't grow anything': can small farms survive California's landmark water law?

The Guardian

California produces two-thirds of the nation’s fruits and nuts and more than one-third of its vegetables. For the first time in history, the state is regulating the groundwater that fuels its massive agriculture industry. Now the smallest farms face the biggest threat.

Resource of the week

Communities across the U.S. should be as clear on the health benefits of climate action as the harms from climate change. Check out this resource from APHA on policy actions with strong climate and health co-benefits.

READ IT

Upcoming Webinar

Join the UMass Lowell Climate Change Initiative and Climate Interactive for a webinar and online discussion about how we might work together to achieve impact at scale through simulation-based learning in higher education.