Readers Write: As air quality declines, need for clean cars increases
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) issued an air quality alert last month that air pollution from fine particles would be at dangerous levels for a few days…. Minnesota is having many more of these air-quality-alert days. The alarms are going off for Minnesotans to support the Clean Cars Minnesota rule.
More pandemics? Health division hears how public health and climate change converge
Is the conversation about COVID-19 drowning out discussion of climate change? It may sometimes seem that way, but nine testifiers at a joint meeting Wednesday said issues of public health and climate change go hand in hand.
A huge oil pipeline is coming to Minnesota – and with it the risk of Covid
Advocates and Native tribes, who have fought the proposal for years, have renewed complaints amid a coronavirus surge
Doctors ask governor to halt Enbridge pipeline construction because of COVID-19 concerns
Health professionals and northern Minnesota residents pleaded with Gov. Tim Walz to halt construction of Enbridge’s controversial $2.6 billion oil pipeline, saying the project will draw thousands of out-of-state workers who could accelerate the spread of COVID-19.
Op-ed: Minnesota State Agencies Green Light Line 3 Construction: Compound Climate Crisis with COVID-19 in a Self-Defeating Move
When people ask me, “What got you interested in climate change?”, I often think back to a newspaper cartoon I saw as a child that’s stuck with me since. The cartoon was of a man chopping the branch that he was sitting on. A concept so simple even a child could grasp: our wellbeing as… Read more »
Community Voices: MPCA sidelines science in Line 3 water permitting process
As scientists who have worked in water resources management, geology, ecosystem assessment, energy systems, and public health, we were shocked at how independent science has been largely ignored in the permit review process.
Talking the relation between climate change, COVID-19 and public health with U of M
Vishnu Laalitha Surapaneni, an assistant professor in the University of Minnesota Medical School and Climate Change and Health champion, explains how health repercussions from the changing climate unequally impact certain Minnesota populations and how the COVID-19 pandemic compounds these health harms.
Medical waste is a big environmental problem — and getting bigger with COVID-19
The health care industry is responsible for 10 percent of the United States’ carbon emissions, according to Yale researchers. One part of that is medical waste — a lot of the waste produced by hospitals has to be incinerated. That emits more carbon dioxide per megawatt hour than coal power plants, said Toya Lopez of Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate.
First climate change, now COVID-19: Tips for managing the stress
In the past few years, many psychologists report seeing patients with physical and emotional symptoms related to climate change. Now add coronavirus, and it’s easy for some of us to feel overwhelmed, even hopeless. But mental health professionals say hope can be an effective antidote to climate and COVID-19 stress. Hennepin Healthcare clinical psychologist Kristi White, wrote about this in the nonprofit climate news site Ensia.
Commentary: Now, more than ever, is the time to adopt clean car standards, not allow more pollution
Hundreds of doctors, nurses, and other health professionals are on the front lines in hospitals across Minnesota treating COVID-19 patients, who are fighting for breath and life. At the same time, the federal government is in the process of pulling back life and breath-saving standards for vehicle emissions.
