Climate justice: Let’s not let white privilege be a barrier to solving the climate crisis
At this point, every one of us has experienced the impacts of climate change, whether it was the smoke from wildfires blanketing Minnesota last summer or the oppressive heat earlier this summer. We are all vulnerable to climate change harms, but the truth is some people are more vulnerable than others. And to build the… Read more »
Rx for Climate & Health equity: The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty
A legally binding international climate treaty already exists. The 196 signatories of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement pledged to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees C (2.7 F) compared to pre-industrial times. But the words “fossil fuels,” “coal,” “oil,” or “gas” never even appear in the Paris Agreement, and new fossil fuel infrastructure is still being greenlit across the world, locking… Read more »
A Hotter World Means More Disease Outbreaks in Our Future
As global temperatures have risen in recent decades, so have the number of outbreaks of infectious diseases. SARS, MERS, Zika, West Nile, COVID-19, and now clusters of monkeypox and polio have all recently threatened public health. “The health impacts of climate change are here,” says Dr. Vishnu Laalitha Surapaneni, assistant professor of medicine at the… Read more »
Physicians have an important role to play in dealing with climate change
In Minnesota, Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate, formed in 2015, brings together physicians, nurses and allied healthcare providers to add their voices to the public debate on clean energy and climate change. The thrust of the organization’s work is “education and activation,” says Brenna Doheny, PhD, MPH, executive director. Several physicians, including the co-founders… Read more »
House committee hears that when it comes to climate change, where you live matters
Climate change has been cited as a cause for the increased frequency of some high-visibility disasters like forest fires, storms and floods. But its effects aren’t distributed evenly throughout the state’s population. That’s according to multiple testifiers at Thursday’s meeting of the House Climate and Energy Finance and Policy Committee. Lower-income Minnesota residents and people… Read more »
As global temperatures continue to rise, climate anxiety will be a growing issue for young people, therapists warn
Kristi White, a clinical health psychologist in Minneapolis, also treats many young adults for issues that stem from the changing climate. “Some of the things in the patients that I work with are things like asthma exacerbation due to poor air quality from wildfires [and] concerns around the risk for heat-related illnesses during extreme heat… Read more »
United Nations climate conference draws Minnesotans of color
As a young physician in the southeast Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, Dr. Laalitha Surapaneni treated day laborers who couldn’t cool off after a day’s work in the extreme heat. She saw the temperatures rising and the coastline eroding. “I could see the changes in the environment that were hurting our health,” Surapaneni said.
Minnesota expands environmental reviews to include greenhouse gas inventories
As Minnesota ramps up the fight on climate change it will soon require developers to measure the greenhouse gases from large new projects. The Minnesota Environmental Quality Board (EQB) approved the pilot approach Wednesday, after years of work. It plans to collect feedback and make improvements on the revised form, called an environmental assessment worksheet,… Read more »
Health Students for a Healthy Climate Drive Renewed Emphasis on Planetary Health in Medicine
“There are many ways that health and climate change intersect,” said Anna Rahrick, a third-year University of Minnesota Medical School student. Rahrick’s interest in the relationship between climate and public health led her to Health Students for a Healthy Climate, an interdisciplinary student group aimed at helping health professionals learn about the impacts of climate… Read more »
How climate change will affect Minnesota’s outdoor workforce
The effects of working in this heat can be dire, especially for workers who are not acclimated to high temperatures, said Laalitha Surapaneni, M.D., MPH, an assistant professor and hospitalist at the University of Minnesota Medical School.
