Vermont public health association

Revised and adopted December 14, 2021

Description:  There is unequivocal evidence that human influence is impacting climate and that these changes are having negative consequences for human health.¹ There is also clear evidence that Vermont’s climate has been changing during the last 50 years.  Mean winter temperatures have risen 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit, and mean summer temperatures have risen 2 degrees.² Annual precipitation in Vermont has increased by almost 7 inches during that same time period.² Warming will likely continue even with significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, though mitigation efforts can limit warming and improve air quality.¹

The Vermont Public Health Association (VtPHA) recognizes the connection between climate change and human health. Continued climate change will have serious ramifications for human health. The health effects of climate change are likely to be negative, impacting social and environmental determinants of health including clean air, safe drinking water, housing, employment, and transportation. Key climate-related health risks that may affect our region include increased heat-related morbidity and mortality, increased allergic sensitization, respiratory illness, and cardiovascular illness, increased occurrence of water-borne and food-borne illness, and increased transmission of insect-borne diseases such as Eastern Equine Encephalitis, West Nile virus, and Lyme Disease.³

Policy Statement:  The public health and health care systems will be fully engaged in the response to climate change with a focus on strategies that will improve health outcomes and decrease health disparities.

Supported Actions:  In light of the threats that climate change poses to health, VtPHA supports these evidence-informed strategies:

• Efforts to reduce the causes of climate change by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. While primary prevention efforts will occur mainly outside of the public health sector, a broad public health approach that emphasizes health benefits may provide support for various climate change mitigation strategies ^4,5
• Surveillance and monitoring of illnesses that are anticipated to increase in prevalence due to climate change^4,5
• Public health and health care initiatives intended to minimize the effects of diseases or injuries such as treatment of extreme heat-related conditions and vector-borne diseases^4,5
• Careful consideration of the unique health burden due to climate change for vulnerable populations such children, elderly, the poor, those with underlying chronic diseases, and mental health issues and the needs of those displaced by extreme weather events, food insecurity, or water shortages (climate refugees) ^4,5
• Efforts aimed at educating policymakers and the public about the relationship between climate change and health and the steps that can be taken to decrease health risks associated with climate change^4,5
• Development of local communities’ capacity to use local knowledge to prepare for and adapt to climate change impacts and the increased risk of extreme weather events^4,5
• Sustained investment in coordinated statewide adaptation planning and emergency preparedness that explicitly considers the public health costs and benefits of adaptation actions in the transportation, energy, building, and agricultural sectors^4,5
• Involvement of public health officials in climate change adaptation and mitigation planning and action^4,5

Potential Barriers: Scholars have suggested the following challenges to public health engagement will complicate addressing climate change:

• individual perceptions that climate change is not urgent or solvable;⁶
• insufficient understanding of climate change’s health impacts and programmatic connections;⁶
• lack of public health capacity, authority, and leadership;⁶
• a narrow framework for public health practice that limits work on the root causes of climate change and health;⁶ and
• compartmentalization within and across sectors.⁶

References:

1. IPCC, 2021: Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Masson-Delmotte, V., P. Zhai, A. Pirani, S. L. Connors, C. Péan, S. Berger, N. Caud, Y. Chen, L. Goldfarb, M. I. Gomis, M. Huang, K. Leitzell, E. Lonnoy, J.B.R. Matthews, T. K. Maycock, T. Waterfield, O. Yelekçi, R. Yu and B. Zhou (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press. In Press. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-i/. Accessed November 8, 2021.
2. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  Climate at a Glance. N.D.  http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/time-series/us. Assessed November 8, 2021.
3. Portier CJ et al.. 2010. A Human Health Perspective On Climate Change: A Report Outlining the Research Needs on the Human Health Effects of Climate Change. Research Triangle Park, NC:Environmental Health Perspectives/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. doi:10.1289/ehp.1002272 http: www.niehs.nih.gov/climatereport. Assessed November 8, 2021.
4. Tong, S, Confalonieri, U, Ebi, K, and Olsen, J.  Managing and Mitigating the Health Risks of Climate Change: Calling for Evidence-Informed policy and Action.  Environ Health Perspectv 2016. 124 (10): A176-A179. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5047783/. Assessed November 8, 2021.
5. Watts, N et al.  Health and climate change: policy responses to protect public health.  The Lancet 2015. 386 (10006); 1861-1914. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60854-6 Assessed November 8, 2021.
6. Gould, S, Rudolph, L.  Challenges and Opportunities for Advancing Work on Climate Change and Public Health. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2015 Dec; 12(12): 15649–15672.