Partnerships help APHA advance action on climate and health

Today’s guest blogger is Rachel McMonagle, climate change program manager for APHA’s Center for Climate, Health and Equity.

It’s been an exhilarating first year for APHA’s Center for Climate, Health and Equity. As we look forward to 2020, we are grateful for our partnerships and the inspiring team of organizations and institutions that propel climate and health work forward. 

Without the support of our climate and health community, our accomplishments would not have been possible. Among the highlights:

• Thanks to the insights of hundreds of our members and partners, the center published a Climate Change and Health Needs Assessment to guide our work.
• Applying partners’ data and resources, our team wrote congressional testimony on the cost of climate change and created fact sheets and infographics on the health impacts of climate change.
• The center partnered with climate and health champions to create the Climate, Health and Equity Policy Action Agenda, fact sheets on the climate impacts of lung health and the third annual Policy Brief for the U.S., which accompanied The Lancet Countdown’s 2019 global report on health and climate change.
• APHA hosted nearly 200 students and early-career professionals at the 2019 Speak for Health Advocacy Bootcamp on #ClimateChangesHealth, and the center sponsored 10 climate and health champions.
• APHA’s 2019 Annual Meeting and Expo in November was packed with climate sessions on energy justice, emerging leaders, water equity, tribal perspectives and more. Two APHA Live sessions focused on climate change.
• Given our membership’s inspiring climate action, we awarded the inaugural Excellence in Climate Leadership Awards to the Maine Public Health Association and APHA’s International Health Section.

In early 2020, we have a number of exciting activities planned:

• In January, we will announce the first cohort of Student Champions for Climate Justice! We look forward to working with these passionate students to create a campus experience on climate and health during National Public Health Week in April.
• The center is thrilled to be launching a children's book club around climate and the environment called ECO Bookworms. Aimed at “early climate optimists,” the club will feature a book or two each month with discussion points. We are finalizing the book list now, so send the names of your favorite related children's books to [email protected] today.
• The center is working with the amazing team at The Nation's Health on a special supplement on climate health to be published in the newspaper’s April issue.
• APHA will release a Climate and Health Playbook on adaptation based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s BRACE Framework. In partnership with the CDC National Center of Environmental Health, we are excited to share guidance on how to infuse justice, equity, diversity and inclusion into the adaptation planning and implementation processes.
• Stay tuned for a publication of our findings from the APHA 2019 Climate Changes Health roundtable that focused on energy justice. Participants shared innovative ideas on the role public health can play in the energy justice space, which we are excited to put into action in 2020.

Here’s to a new year of meaningful connections and unprecedented progress at the intersection of climate, health and equity!