PHI Renews Call for Action on Climate Change

STATEMENT FROM DR. LINDA RUDOLPH, DIRECTOR OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH INSTITUTE’S CENTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND HEALTH

The Public Health Institute (PHI) joins other leading health and medical organizations in renewing our call for swift and immediate action on climate change.

PHI, along with the U.S. Climate and Health Alliance, the American Lung Association, the National Association of Hispanic Nurses, and other leading public health and medical organizations, has signed on to the Declaration on Climate Change and Health, on the heels of today’s release of Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the U.S. This new report from the U.S. Global Change Research Program joins the robust and growing body of evidence demonstrating the undeniable impacts of climate change on our planet and the public’s health.

Communities across the country are already experiencing the impacts of climate change: extreme weather patterns; droughts, wildfires and flooding; an increase in vector-borne diseases; and elevated air pollution levels. Often, the most vulnerable communities–including low income communities and communities of color–disproportionately bear the consequences of climate change.

We need action at all levels of government, from every sector, and in communities. We must clean up major sources of carbon pollution, including power plants, cars, and trucks–while at the same time, ensuring that communities are given the tools and resources necessary to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of our changing climate.

Help spread the word with a tweet: I stand with @phidotorg & other leading #PublicHealth orgs: It’s time to #ActOnClimate: http://bit.ly/1RUH3JC #ClimateChangesHealth