Climate Change and Health in Connecticut: 2020 Report

Transcript

• 00:01- Okay, so welcome everyone.
• 00:03I think we'll get started.
• 00:06I'm Robert Dubrow.
• 00:08I'm the Faculty Director
• 00:10of the Yale Center on Climate Change in Health
• 00:13and I'd like to welcome everyone.
• 00:16So our center works in the domains
• 00:18of research education and public health practice
• 00:21and also on the local and international levels.
• 00:26So of course, one of the main full side
• 00:28of our work is Connecticut, where we live and work.
• 00:32So with the goal of helping policy makers
• 00:35and advocates in Connecticut advance your work,
• 00:38this sensor and Laura in particular, put a great deal
• 00:41of effort into researching and writing climate change health
• 00:46in Connecticut, the 2020 report.
• 00:49So it's a pleasure to introduce Dr. Laura Bozzi
• 00:53who's our Director of Programs
• 00:56and the lead author of the report.
• 00:58And she'll be presenting the report's main finding.
• 01:03Just a couple of housekeeping items
• 01:06for this webinar being recorded
• 01:08and it'll be available on our website there on.
• 01:11Second, be sure to stay muted.
• 01:15And third, if you have questions, you can put them
• 01:18into the chat box and we'll have a question
• 01:21and answer period at the end of Laura's presentation.
• 01:24So Laura, we're looking forward to your presentation.
• 01:29- Great, thanks Rob and welcome everyone.
• 01:34First I wanna think and recognize Rob as the co-author
• 01:38of this report that we'll discuss today,
• 01:41as well as some other contributors
• 01:42that are Ian Maro, Diaz Hernandez, Chi Chen
• 01:46in a former student at Melville Vessel.
• 01:50So thank you again
• 01:51for your interest in this important topic.
• 01:54Let's see, Rob mentioned the center a bit
• 01:58but just want to orient you
• 01:59to the Yale Center on Climate Change in Health.
• 02:02As Rob mentioned, our work is global
• 02:04but we have a particular focus here in Connecticut.
• 02:09And we invite you to stay engaged
• 02:12with the Yale Center and Climate Change in Health.
• 02:14We have a great slate of webinars
• 02:17that are coming up this semester.
• 02:20You can sign up for them on Eventbrite,
• 02:22learn about the more on our website
• 02:26and I think Myra is putting in links into the chat
• 02:28and please stay connected with us.
• 02:30You can follow us on social media.
• 02:32You can sign up for our newsletter on our website.
• 02:39So onto the report.
• 02:41We released this report in September of 2020.
• 02:44We hope it provides a comprehensive look
• 02:46at climate change and health in Connecticut.
• 02:49It covers 19 indicators across four domains, temperature,
• 02:53extreme events, infectious diseases, and air quality.
• 02:56You'll see the list of 19 indicators to your right.
• 03:00It's purpose is to inform policy makers,
• 03:03health professionals, advocates and residents.
• 03:06Many of you on the call today
• 03:07about the impact of climate change
• 03:09now in the future on the health
• 03:11either on human health in Connecticut.
• 03:15Wherever possible we report indicators are for each County
• 03:18and those who aren't from Connecticut, other eight counties
• 03:21which makes it a better reasonable task.
• 03:25And we tracked as far back as the data set would allow.
• 03:28Some of our data sets went back to the late 1800s.
• 03:32I'll note though that in this presentation
• 03:34I'm largely showing the statewide results.
• 03:36So really encourage you to look at the report
• 03:38if you're looking for the County level results.
• 03:42And we noted linear trends
• 03:44when they are statistically significant.
• 03:46Some of the trends were significant
• 03:48and they were demonstrating trends consistent
• 03:53with what we'd expect under climate change
• 03:55like increasing average temperature.
• 03:57The others don't show trends yet, but we report
• 04:03in our findings about scientific studies
• 04:05and how they project those changes to occur in the future.
• 04:11So I'll plot on some of the indicators
• 04:13but 19 is a lot to cover in less than an hour
• 04:15so again, please check out our report on the website.
• 04:22And I'll tell you a little bit more about our data sources.
• 04:25So we used all publicly available data
• 04:28from federal agencies, State agencies
• 04:30and a medical association.
• 04:32We were particularly looking at federal agency data
• 04:36and that means that it's largely available
• 04:39across the country.
• 04:40So if you're in another state and you want to look at this,
• 04:43you can reference our data sources.
• 04:46And I'll note, one of them that I think is really useful
• 04:50particularly in say a classroom, is this climate
• 04:53at a glance from Noah and see in the center on the right
• 04:56or you can access temperature and precipitation data
• 05:01since the late 1800s as you'll see that we used.
• 05:09To give you some context for our report.
• 05:11I want to summarize some
• 05:13projected climate change impacts in Connecticut.
• 05:15These are largely drawn from a really important report
• 05:19that came from a UCONN and CIRCA researchers
• 05:22called the Connecticut physical science assessment report,
• 05:25as well as updates that are found
• 05:27in the governor's council on climate change,
• 05:29Connecticut governor's council on climate change report
• 05:31from the science and technology committee.
• 05:34And one thing to note is that there's high confidence
• 05:37in projected changes through mid-century, so about 2050,
• 05:41but then the projections after mid-century really depends
• 05:45on the actions that we take now to mitigate climate change
• 05:48and reduce an end our use of fossil fuels.
• 05:52And in fact, the GC3 report wrote recently
• 05:55coordinated mitigation now means it's more likely
• 05:59that the temperature will stabilize after 2050
• 06:02if not warming is likely to accelerate.
• 06:05So to summarize some of the projections.
• 06:09This is from the UCONN CIRCA report.
• 06:13They project a five degree increase
• 06:15in annual average temperature by mid-century compared
• 06:20to the base period of 1970 to 1999.
• 06:25In that same period, 8.5% increase in annual precipitation
• 06:29but this is mostly due to increases
• 06:31in the winter and the spring.
• 06:35Because of that increase in heavy rainfall events,
• 06:39a greater flood risk.
• 06:41And while there is more annual precipitation,
• 06:45there's less in the summer increasing summer droughts
• 06:49up to three times as often
• 06:49by the end of the century I believe.
• 06:53Additionally warm spell days which are like heat waves.
• 06:58They project those to increase from less than three
• 07:00per year in the 1950s to 44 per year in 2050
• 07:04and more than 120 per year by 2100.
• 07:07That's with business as usual high emissions scenario.
• 07:13For sea level rise, there are projections of 20 inches
• 07:16or a half a meter by 2050, but then what happens
• 07:20after that really depends on our climate actions.
• 07:22So without a strong reduction in CO2 emissions,
• 07:27recent work indicates that it could be
• 07:29up to 80 inches or 6.7 feet by 2100.
• 07:34And finally Atlantic hurricanes are expected
• 07:37to become more intense, meaning greater wind speed
• 07:40with greater amounts of precipitation.
• 07:46Well, climate change affects everyone.
• 07:48It does not affect everyone equally.
• 07:51It's often called a climate risk amplifier.
• 07:54Some people are more vulnerable to others
• 07:56because of where they live or work their age or race,
• 07:59their health condition, their social economic status.
• 08:02And you can see that depicted in this graphic.
• 08:05And essentially vulnerability is a function
• 08:08of three factors, exposure or how much a person
• 08:11is in contact with the climate hazard,
• 08:14sensitivity which is how much
• 08:20the climate hazard affects them
• 08:22which can differ from person to person
• 08:24based on biological traits and socioeconomic status,
• 08:28and an individual or community's adaptive capacity
• 08:31which is its ability to adapt
• 08:33or to cope with that climate hazard.
• 08:35And as you can imagine, this can be bolstered
• 08:37by resilience planning or by access to resources
• 08:40and it can be hampered
• 08:43by historic disinvestment in communities
• 08:48structural racism and larger structural factors.
• 08:54And I'll return to this issue of vulnerability
• 08:57and equity throughout the presentation.
• 09:02So I'll move on to the reports findings
• 09:05first around temperature.
• 09:07So annual average temperature is increased
• 09:10over three degrees Fahrenheit across Connecticut
• 09:13and in each County over the last 125 years.
• 09:16And in fact, six of the hottest years in Connecticut
• 09:20have been since 2005.
• 09:21And so you can see on this graph or the center line
• 09:24is the average for the 1900s of temperature.
• 09:28So all of the bars in later years are above zero
• 09:33meaning that they're higher than the average.
• 09:38So what does this mean for health?
• 09:40So there's wide range in effects
• 09:42and I'll talk about some of them in later slides.
• 09:46High heat days can cause
• 09:47heat stress, heat stroke and even death.
• 09:50High temperatures interact with air pollution
• 09:52particularly smog to produce even larger health impacts.
• 09:58Warmer winters create conditions for larger tick
• 10:01and mosquito populations that are active
• 10:04over a greater proportion of the year.
• 10:06It creates a longer season for ragweed pollen
• 10:08which causes hay fever, exacerbates asthma.
• 10:12We have another indicator that I don't present here
• 10:15but where we looked at frost days, which are days under 30
• 10:18under freezing where the temperature reaches under freezing.
• 10:21And we found that it decreased
• 10:23from 1950 to 2018 in four of the eight counties.
• 10:28And this has important ecological
• 10:30and then human health consequences.
• 10:33It can lead to more plant pests and longer season
• 10:36for their activity affecting both forests and agriculture.
• 10:39And I'll point in particular to something
• 10:43that the 2018 National Climate Assessment,
• 10:47they framed the Northeast chapter around
• 10:50changes in how this affects our seasonality
• 10:52and how that affects our sense of place.
• 10:54They noted that the seasonality of the Northeast
• 10:57is central to the region's sense of place
• 10:58and that it's an important driver of rural economies.
• 11:02So wide range in impacts from these warming temperatures.
• 11:10Digging down a little bit more on heat related illness.
• 11:16Extreme heat stresses the body's ability
• 11:18to maintain it's normal temperature,
• 11:19which can lead to heat related illness.
• 11:21And this may require emergency medical treatment
• 11:23or hospitalization, severe cases that can cause death.
• 11:28In Connecticut from 2007 to 2016,
• 11:31there were an average 422 ed visits
• 11:34and 45 hospitalizations per year for heat stress.
• 11:40As I said before, vulnerability is a function of exposure,
• 11:44sensitivity, and adaptive capacity.
• 11:47And on the right, you see a figure
• 11:51of the urban heat island effect.
• 11:53So this is the phenomenon where cities are hotter
• 11:57than the surrounding areas because of
• 12:01the greater heat generation and the absorption of heat
• 12:05due to the human materials.
• 12:10So you can see that there's greater exposure
• 12:13to heat in cities in Connecticut than in other parts.
• 12:17And that this is particularly an issue
• 12:20for residents in cities who have low financial
• 12:23or social resources to adapt.
• 12:26After our workers are another group with higher exposure
• 12:30to extreme heat, and may have limited ability to change.
• 12:35They have to work outside
• 12:37and if there aren't protective policies,
• 12:39then they may be at more risk.
• 12:41Other vulnerable populations include the old and the young,
• 12:44those with pre-existing medical conditions,
• 12:46those with limited social and financial resources,
• 12:49athletes and pregnant women.
• 12:52In Connecticut well young people are more likely
• 12:54to be treated in hospital emergency rooms
• 12:57for heat related illness than other age groups.
• 13:00The risk of inpatient admission.
• 13:01So more serious heat related illness
• 13:06in Connecticut increases with age
• 13:07and it's highest for those 75 and older.
• 13:11And importantly note that
• 13:14these vulnerability factors are cumulative.
• 13:16So if you're someone that we're both,
• 13:19we're multiple correspond to you,
• 13:22then you're at greater risk.
• 13:31So what can we do?
• 13:34These are a number of possible steps forward
• 13:39in terms of both policy and personal action.
• 13:42So the first is to make homes cooler, more energy efficient
• 13:45and powered by renewable energy.
• 13:48And we can do that in Connecticut
• 13:51through some specific ways.
• 13:52We can expand our energy assistance program
• 13:56called (indistinct) to include cooling assistance
• 13:58to make those that can't afford air conditioning
• 14:04particularly if they are medically vulnerable
• 14:07to heat related illness to make that more available.
• 14:10At the same time, we need to also address weatherization
• 14:17to make homes more energy efficient.
• 14:21There's a lot of work happening in the State right now
• 14:23to address the barriers to weatherization
• 14:26so that more people can get their homes weatherized
• 14:28and more energy efficient.
• 14:29And then finally, we wanna do all these actions
• 14:32while ramping up renewable energy programs
• 14:35like shared solar to make sure that they work
• 14:37for low and middle income customers and renters
• 14:41so that there is both the protection
• 14:43against heat while also making sure
• 14:46that we are using renewable energy to do that.
• 14:51Another way to cool our neighborhoods
• 14:54is by supporting an urban tree planting and maintenance.
• 14:58And I think on this point, it's important to consider
• 15:02that the greatest cooling effect
• 15:06is often from a larger shade tree.
• 15:08So it's not just planting,
• 15:09but it's also maintaining our larger trees.
• 15:11And there's some really interesting programs
• 15:14around shade tree ordinances or increasing funding
• 15:18around maintenance for existing trees.
• 15:23We need to protect against heat related illnesses
• 15:25at work sites, schools, and sports teams
• 15:27by creating plans and enforcing them to make sure
• 15:32that those that are exerting themselves outside
• 15:37are acclimated and receive proper rest watershed
• 15:43and other important health provisions.
• 15:46And municipalities can develop
• 15:48and maintain local heat response plans.
• 15:51There's a recommendation in the governor's council
• 15:53on climate change report that the State create a framework
• 15:57that the municipalities could build from.
• 16:01And then for personal action, elderly,
• 16:04you can check on elderly neighbors
• 16:06during extreme heat events
• 16:08and you can help to cool your neighborhoods
• 16:11through tree plantings and maintenance
• 16:13or by painting your roof white.
• 16:19And we'll move on to extreme events.
• 16:24So in this, just check my papers.
• 16:30So this next indicator,
• 16:34we track the number of weather disasters
• 16:37federally declared disasters through FEMA
• 16:41and found that from 2010 to 2019
• 16:44there were nine federal disaster declarations
• 16:47for weather events in Connecticut
• 16:49compared to only 13 in the previous 56 years.
• 16:52And you can see here that there are a number
• 16:55of quite memorable storms like Irene and Sandy,
• 17:00the Halloween or Easter, and some others
• 17:03and that they affected all counties in the State.
• 17:09So what does this mean for health?
• 17:12There are, of course, the immediate dangers
• 17:13from severe storms and flooding like drowning or injuries
• 17:18but there are other impacts, particularly due
• 17:22to disruption of critical infrastructure
• 17:25like the likes of electricity or sanitation,
• 17:27drinking water supplies, food, refrigeration, phone service.
• 17:32And this is important because it can interfere
• 17:35with access to medical care.
• 17:38It may be that if someone loses electricity
• 17:41and then they're on an electric medical device
• 17:44like for dialysis, that can be life-threatening.
• 17:47Roads may be closed so that ambulances
• 17:50can't reach someone in need.
• 17:52So these are important ways where
• 17:56there are larger longer-term ramifications
• 18:00from extreme events.
• 18:02There are also less visible but critically important issues
• 18:06related to mental health from disasters.
• 18:11Individuals, for instance whose households experienced
• 18:15a flood reported higher levels of depression than anxiety.
• 18:20These can persist for several years after an event.
• 18:24And finally, there is the building stock
• 18:28in lower income neighborhoods is often
• 18:29at increased risk for damage from natural disasters.
• 18:33And that this is in part due to structural inequality
• 18:37because of historic patterns
• 18:39of development in vulnerable areas and under investment
• 18:43in the public infrastructure in some areas
• 18:46leaving some more at risk than others
• 18:50within a given location.
• 18:56The next indicator looked at
• 18:59an interesting issue of Superfund sites.
• 19:01So the CIRCLA federal law on nicknamed Superfund
• 19:06identifies and cleans up polluted sites.
• 19:08There are thousands of these across the country,
• 19:10manufacturing facilities and processing plants,
• 19:12landfills, mining sites, and for this indicator
• 19:17we use data from the government accountability office
• 19:19where they looked at all Superfund sites in the country
• 19:23and using GIS they mapped which ones were vulnerable
• 19:26to different climate impacts.
• 19:29And for Connecticut, they found that seven sites,
• 19:33those marked on the map, out of Connecticut 16
• 19:38are vulnerable to climate change impacts.
• 19:40This is particularly that they're vulnerable,
• 19:43most are vulnerable to inland flooding,
• 19:46as you can see most of them are inland.
• 19:47There's one side at the bottom
• 19:50that's also vulnerable to hurricane impacts
• 19:54and hurricane storm surge and sea level rise.
• 19:58And this is a concern for human health
• 20:00because people can become exposed to the contaminants
• 20:04if they are released due to this impact
• 20:07and if they enter the ground or surface water
• 20:10or they get released into the air
• 20:12or they leach into the soil.
• 20:17Of course, this is another reason to prioritize
• 20:22investing in speedily cleaning up these contaminated sites.
• 20:31The next indicator I'll cover is high tide flooding.
• 20:33So high tide flooding is what it sounds like.
• 20:36It's that an area floods only during high tide,
• 20:40but that is related to sea level.
• 20:45And so as sea level increases,
• 20:48then high tide flooding becomes more common.
• 20:52And we can see that that is the case.
• 20:54There are two sites in Connecticut where this is measured,
• 20:58in New London and in Bridgeport.
• 20:59And I'm showing here the New London figure,
• 21:06but we see that the number has increased significantly
• 21:09since the beginning of the measurement period.
• 21:15And in and of itself high tide flooding
• 21:19is not of significant health risk
• 21:25but as it becomes more common
• 21:27then it can become certainly more concerning.
• 21:31And why is that?
• 21:33So one reason is that it
• 21:35can transmit pathogens like Vibrio bacteria
• 21:38if you're walking through waters that are contaminated.
• 21:40It also can contaminate drinking water supplies
• 21:43particularly if they're wells that are close to the Coast
• 21:47or contaminate coastal agricultural fields.
• 21:52And with highly developed coastlines, Connecticut is also
• 21:55at risk for high tide flooding
• 21:57affecting large number of roads, homes, businesses
• 22:01and other infrastructure that are along the Coast.
• 22:10So again, what can we do about this?
• 22:13In terms of policy and planning,
• 22:16we can make our homes more affordable,
• 22:17healthy and climate resilient, particularly recognizing
• 22:21that many homes are in
• 22:23either floodplains or in coastal areas.
• 22:28And this is especially important for low income
• 22:31communities who are disproportionately under-insured
• 22:33for protection or renters who are vulnerable
• 22:36to displacement after a disaster.
• 22:39And so the more that we can make housing secure,
• 22:43the better prepared we are for future climate impacts.
• 22:48Another specific action that municipalities can take
• 22:50is to enroll in FEMA's community rating system program
• 22:55which is a voluntary incentive program
• 22:57that discounts flood insurance, premium rates for residents
• 23:01in the municipalities that participate.
• 23:04There are about 19 municipalities in Connecticut
• 23:07that now participate.
• 23:11We can do more emergency planning in a shared backup power
• 23:14at both congregate settings and senior living facilities
• 23:18to be sure that those sites
• 23:19where there are more vulnerable residents
• 23:24that they're prepared for extreme weather events.
• 23:28And then for personal action, know your risk.
• 23:32You can look up whether you're in a flood zone
• 23:33or what kind of hurricane evacuations on your end,
• 23:36you can look up what your hurricane evacuation route is.
• 23:40If you're in that area, you can make a plan.
• 23:43And say this recognizing that there are limitations
• 23:49that make that kind of planning needs there
• 23:52for some people than others.
• 23:55And then I didn't cover it,
• 23:57but we do have an indicator on drought.
• 23:59And as I mentioned before in the future,
• 24:01Connecticut is expected to experience
• 24:05more drought than in the past.
• 24:08And so it's important to now adopt
• 24:10more water conservation measures
• 24:12both at the individual level and the municipal levels
• 24:15including installation of efficient appliances
• 24:18and installing low impact designs and making retrofits.
• 24:26Third, we'll move to infectious diseases.
• 24:32We conducted a detailed assessment of mosquito abundance
• 24:35for this indicator using data
• 24:37from the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.
• 24:41And we found that during 2001 to 2019
• 24:44of the 28 species found in Connecticut to carry viruses,
• 24:48that cause human disease,
• 24:4910 of those showed increasing abundance
• 24:52and three show trends of decrease in abundance.
• 24:55And this is important because mosquito abundance
• 24:57is a key factor that influences
• 24:59the capacity of the mosquito to transmit the virus
• 25:03and the rate in which infections spread.
• 25:06And you can see here a list of the mosquito species
• 25:12that each of the mosquito species you attract
• 25:14has been found to carry one or more
• 25:16of the following viruses that infect humans.
• 25:19And I'll note that we also have indicators
• 25:22that covered two these Tripoli and West Nile virus.
• 25:26And our findings here are important again,
• 25:29because increases in the abundance of mosquito species
• 25:32that are vectors for these diseases
• 25:34can lead to increases in the number of viral infections.
• 25:43On tick-borne illnesses, in fact,
• 25:46we found that the total number of cases of Lyme disease
• 25:49have decreased Statewide over the last decade or so,
• 25:53which is good news.
• 25:56However, there are emergency concerns.
• 25:59One issue that we highlight in the report
• 26:01is around lone star ticks.
• 26:03Lone star ticks transmit a number
• 26:05of diseases and medical conditions.
• 26:07And you can see the list there.
• 26:10The lone star tick is the most common human biting disease
• 26:12in the Southeastern United States.
• 26:15It's expanding into Connecticut likely
• 26:17due to climate factors particularly warming winters.
• 26:21And importantly that
• 26:22Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station
• 26:25discovered established breeding populations
• 26:27in Fairfield County in 2018 and Haven County in 2019,
• 26:31meaning that the insects aren't transients
• 26:33that they're established in our State.
• 26:38I mentioned foodborne Vibrio or Vibrio briefly earlier.
• 26:42So Vibrio bacteria live in warm coastal waters,
• 26:47especially in lower salinity estuaries.
• 26:50Humans can become infected through two routes.
• 26:52One is by walking through water
• 26:57that carries the Vibrio bacteria
• 26:59especially with an exposed wound.
• 27:01But the second and the focus of this indicator
• 27:04is by eating contaminated seafood,
• 27:07especially shellfish that's where (indistinct).
• 27:10And you can see from the figure on the left
• 27:13the annual incidents of confirmed cases
• 27:15of vibrio infections has increased.
• 27:20Foodborne infections from Vibrio
• 27:23typically result in symptoms, including abdominal cramps
• 27:26and nausea, diarrhea, fever and chills.
• 27:30Most of them aren't significant,
• 27:32many people don't seek medical care
• 27:35so actually the numbers are under reported.
• 27:40But foodborne vibrio infections can be serious
• 27:43especially if they're caused by one particular species
• 27:46Vibrio vulnificus which causes 95%
• 27:50of all seafood related mortality in the United States.
• 27:53But fortunately, these kinds
• 27:55of infections are very rare in Connecticut.
• 27:59And you'll see on the right sea surface temperature
• 28:04at one site in Connecticut,
• 28:05on Niantic Bay during the summertime, over the same period
• 28:10as we're reporting the Vibrio infections.
• 28:16The bacteria grow best in warm water.
• 28:18And so you can see the strong association
• 28:20between higher sea surface temperature, the right
• 28:23and the greater vibrio abundance on the left.
• 28:27And already it's been observed
• 28:29that these infections increase during heat waves
• 28:32when this has been studied around the world.
• 28:35And this is one of the quite clear indications
• 28:42that we see in Connecticut so far of an association
• 28:46of climate change and health impacts.
• 28:54What can we do here?
• 28:56In terms of policies and programs,
• 28:59I'll note also on this point that the governor's council
• 29:02on climate change has issued its report recently
• 29:06that includes actions around public health and safety
• 29:09and that a number of our recommendations in our report
• 29:12and in this presentation are quite similar
• 29:15to those that are in the GC3 report
• 29:18and that's including in this instance.
• 29:24So we recommend surveillance of vectors
• 29:27and the sea doesn't take associated disease
• 29:29that is happening through
• 29:30the Connecticut Agricultural Station.
• 29:32And it's really important, particularly
• 29:34as they're emerging vectors and diseases in our area.
• 29:38And so relatedly, it's important to continue
• 29:42with public education on these emerging vectors in diseases
• 29:47and around prevention, best practices.
• 29:50And third and this is directly from the GC3 report,
• 29:54to develop vector-borne disease prevention
• 29:57and management guidelines for schools, outdoor recreation
• 30:00and homes to provide best practices at those sites
• 30:04for reducing infections or reducing disease.
• 30:10And then for personal action,
• 30:12you can create a tick safe zone in your yard.
• 30:16Many of us know already about best practices
• 30:18around tick prevention of wearing long pants.
• 30:21Using the insect repellent, doing a tick check.
• 30:26And then we want to keep mosquitoes out
• 30:30with high quality housing,
• 30:31mosquito tight screens and windows and doors.
• 30:35And there are some helpful resources, including
• 30:39from the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Stations
• 30:42and I've won friends won the tick management handbook.
• 30:49Finally, we'll discuss the final domain of air quality.
• 30:56As you may be aware, Connecticut has issues
• 31:00with ground-level ozone pollution.
• 31:02And in fact, the American Lung Association gave each County
• 31:05an F grade for ozone pollution in its 2019 report.
• 31:10And similarly, we found that while the number
• 31:13of air quality days has decreased over time,
• 31:15so you can see the downward trend of those bar graphs
• 31:18for each County that more needs to be done
• 31:22to protect human health.
• 31:24So ground-level ozone is the result largely
• 31:27burning fossil fuels whether in our vehicles
• 31:29or in power plants.
• 31:31And so importantly, this is where we can see
• 31:33strong health co-benefits of climate actions.
• 31:39When we switched to clean energy sources
• 31:41or make our active transportation safer and easier,
• 31:44then we're also reducing
• 31:46these local drivers of air pollution.
• 31:51It's worth noting as well that much of our air pollution
• 31:55does come from States to our West,
• 31:59and so this points the need
• 32:00for a strong federal and regional action
• 32:03to address climate change and air pollution.
• 32:08Many of us are familiar with ground-level ozone or smog,
• 32:11but it's worth a reminder about the health effects.
• 32:13So it's a strong lung irritant.
• 32:16It can cause the shortness of breath or coughing,
• 32:19but it can cause more serious consequences
• 32:20and it can aggravate lung diseases like asthma,
• 32:24emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
• 32:26It can increase the frequencies of asthma attacks
• 32:30and it may contribute to
• 32:31the initial development of asthma in children.
• 32:35And it's worth noting that nationally asthma
• 32:38is the leading cause of school absenteeism.
• 32:41And as I said before, the combination
• 32:43of air quality, air quality alert days,
• 32:47poor quality days and high heat days
• 32:49is particularly dangerous to health.
• 32:52Looking forward under climate change
• 32:55under further climate change,
• 32:58there's concern that past progress
• 33:00on reducing ground-level ozone pollution is likely
• 33:02to be counteracted by something called the climate penalty,
• 33:05which is that higher temperatures and other climatic changes
• 33:08are expected to bring about higher ground
• 33:13level ozone concentrations,
• 33:14especially in already polluted areas.
• 33:17However, to underscore a point that we've made
• 33:20throughout the presentation, the size of that
• 33:22climate penalty depends on our action on climate change now.
• 33:25So when we look at a moderate emissions pathway,
• 33:28so taking more action on climate change compared
• 33:33to a business as usual, that could prevent approximately
• 33:36360 deaths per year by 2090 in the Northeast
• 33:40according to one study.
• 33:46For the final indicator that I'll cover here,
• 33:50this is on aeroallergens.
• 33:52We use data from a monitoring seitan in Waterbury
• 33:56that measured outdoor mold and grass pollen,
• 34:01tree pollen, and weed pollen.
• 34:04And we only found one significant trends
• 34:07and that was that since 2007,
• 34:10the percent of measure days with higher
• 34:12very high outdoor mold concentrations has increased.
• 34:17However, there are some national indications
• 34:20about changes in pollen exposure
• 34:23that might be associated with climate change.
• 34:26And this is due to increased atmospheric CO2 concentrations.
• 34:30and one more temperatures that can cause longer seasons
• 34:36for pollen production.
• 34:37It can change the geographic distribution
• 34:40upon producing plants, and it can increase pollen,
• 34:43the actual pollen production per year
• 34:47and that this can overall, we may see
• 34:52more such pollen and more allergic reactions
• 34:57in the future under climate change.
• 35:03What can we do?
• 35:04I'm focusing here on actions that are
• 35:08making most use of addressing of reaping
• 35:11the health co-benefits of climate action.
• 35:13So first, Connecticut is considering
• 35:16a goal of 100% zero carbon electricity supply by 2040.
• 35:21And we think that that is a strong way
• 35:23to also address local to gain that those local
• 35:29health co-benefits of climate action.
• 35:34Another is to electrify
• 35:35the transportation and heating sectors.
• 35:37That's certainly easier said than done,
• 35:40but they come with real health co-benefits.
• 35:42In particular, you can think about electrifying
• 35:45heavy duty municipal buses or school buses,
• 35:49and how that can really improve
• 35:51the local air quality in a given location.
• 35:54Improving active transportation options
• 35:57is reducing carbon emissions,
• 35:58but it's also increasing physical activity
• 36:01and brings similar co-benefits from that greater activity.
• 36:10And again, supporting strong federal action
• 36:12to limit interstate pollution recognizing
• 36:14that our action alone in Connecticut
• 36:18doesn't completely solve our air pollution concerns.
• 36:23For personal action, you can sign up for an energy audit.
• 36:26And in the fall through with energy efficiency measures
• 36:29and weatherization, many supported by Connecticut policies
• 36:34can opt into renewable electricity,
• 36:36utilize active transportation
• 36:39and electrify your homes with heat pumps
• 36:42and your vehicles by switching to EVs.
• 36:49And finally, I'll wrap up with some
• 36:51of our large overarching report recommendations.
• 36:57The first is above all swift action to reduce
• 37:00and eliminate carbon emissions.
• 37:03Connecticut is committed to reducing greenhouse gases
• 37:05by 245% below 2001 levels by 2030 and 80% below by 2050.
• 37:15So we need to assure that this is accomplished
• 37:17and that Connecticut goes further
• 37:18toward achieving zero carbon future.
• 37:23Additionally, we need to continue
• 37:25to monitor these climate conditions
• 37:28and project trends in Connecticut, understanding how
• 37:32climate change is affecting our health
• 37:34and how we can respond accordingly,
• 37:37and provide this information to local decision-makers.
• 37:40Second, we can invest
• 37:42in the social determinants of health.
• 37:44So social factors like housing and education
• 37:48and employment are major drivers of population health.
• 37:51And we think that they're important possible synergies
• 37:53by taking action on climate change
• 37:57both mitigation and adaptation in ways that also invest
• 38:00in the social determinants of health.
• 38:02And you can think about that
• 38:04in terms of housing and neighborhood design,
• 38:07our food choices and our transportation options.
• 38:16We pointed principles of environmental justice
• 38:18to say that addressing climate change
• 38:19and the health inequities requires confronting
• 38:22their root causes by challenging historic
• 38:25and systemic burdens faced by low-income communities
• 38:27and communities of color.
• 38:29And that includes environmental pollution,
• 38:31income inequality, racism
• 38:33and inequitable access to power and resources.
• 38:37And so solutions need to be addressing
• 38:39these deeper drivers to be ultimately effective.
• 38:47We recommend, as I've mentioned before,
• 38:48pursuing actions that integrate climate mitigation
• 38:52and climate adaptation with immediate health co-benefits
• 38:55to fully utilize the benefits
• 38:58that can be achieved through policy action.
• 39:05We encourage building the capacity of health professionals
• 39:08and decision-makers to address climate and health
• 39:12knowing that many professionals weren't trained
• 39:15and many health professionals weren't trained
• 39:16in climate change, many other decision-makers
• 39:19weren't trained in climate change or health, perhaps.
• 39:22And that that kind of this knowledge gap is important
• 39:28for addressing these issues in the future.
• 39:35We recommend incorporating climate change
• 39:37into decision-making across sectors.
• 39:40So of course climate change is not a siloed issue.
• 39:44Its causes and its solutions go across all areas
• 39:49of government and a society, and it's important
• 39:52to take a intersectoral approach toward bringing solutions.
• 40:01And finally, we encourage incorporating public health
• 40:07into climate change decision-making.
• 40:10There's a concept in public health
• 40:12called a health and all policies approach
• 40:14which is that public health should be at the table
• 40:18in making decisions from transportation to urban planning
• 40:24because these importantly affect health as well.
• 40:27And we believe that this is important
• 40:30in addressing climate change,
• 40:32particularly on mitigation to make sure
• 40:35that these health benefits
• 40:37and health harms are fully addressed.
• 40:45That wraps up this speed through our report.
• 40:50Again, I encourage you to download the report
• 40:54or sign up for our newsletter on our website
• 40:57and I look forward to hearing
• 41:00your questions coming up, thanks again.
• 41:09All right, Myra, do you wanna-
• 41:13- Yeah, thanks so much for that, Laura.
• 41:16I'm gonna just do a reverse chronological order
• 41:19if that's okay as I scrolled through these.
• 41:22So it looks like we just had a question come in from Rachel.
• 41:26I'm wondering if you looked at any indicators
• 41:28related to agriculture or the food industry
• 41:32especially given the health co-benefits
• 41:34of plant based diets.
• 41:37- Good question, so the report was focused
• 41:39on climate impacts in particular.
• 41:43So we weren't looking explicitly at mitigation solutions.
• 41:51So we didn't look at,
• 41:52there wasn't something specifically on food
• 41:57though it's addressed sort of indirectly
• 41:59in a number of other indicators.
• 42:04- All right thank you. - And I just say Rob
• 42:05again as coauthor please feel free to jump in anytime.
• 42:15- All right, thank you, Laura.
• 42:17We have another question from Ursula.
• 42:23Are businesses mandated to recycle
• 42:25or invest in efficient energy systems?
• 42:29It looks like business or hospitals
• 42:30if I'm reading the question correctly.
• 42:33- [Ursula] Yes, thank you, that's what I meant.
• 42:36- [Myra] Thank you, Ursula.
• 42:38- That's a good question.
• 42:40I don't know the answer.
• 42:41I think Rob, maybe you know this
• 42:44if recycling is mandated.
• 42:45It may be at a municipal level
• 42:47that those kinds of decisions are made.
• 42:53Rob, do you know more about that in Connecticut?
• 42:59- All I can say is that there,
• 43:02if there aren't strong mandates, if there are any.
• 43:07Yeah, so essentially the answer is no.
• 43:11- Yeah, but it is worth noting that we have a colleague
• 43:14at the Center on Climate Change and Health Study,
• 43:16Sherman who does like world-renowned research
• 43:20on reducing unhealthcare sustainability
• 43:22and reducing the impact of the healthcare sector.
• 43:25And so there's really promising options in hospitals
• 43:32and others to reduce their consumption of plastics
• 43:39and other kinds of materials.
• 43:42- [Ursula] Yes, I don't think it's that regulation.
• 43:45I don't think we're gonna get anywhere.
• 43:47I finished the certificate program
• 43:49and I'm trying to introduce concepts to my colleagues
• 43:53and without regulation (laughing)
• 43:57they need someone from the top down like telling them
• 44:00they have to do this or they're gonna get fined.
• 44:02It's really sad but I'm still clamoring
• 44:04a way to make some impact (laughing).
• 44:07- Good, thank you.
• 44:12- Great, I see one from Sandy, is Connecticut
• 44:16considering more enticing EV credits in the future?
• 44:23- I hope so, but I don't know specifics.
• 44:32- Yeah, I haven't seen anything about that.
• 44:35- But Connecticut released a report
• 44:37an EV roadmap last year
• 44:38that set out a number of actions for the State to take.
• 44:42And it's also worth noting that Connecticut
• 44:46signed onto the transportation climate initiative
• 44:49which is the regional program to reduce emissions
• 44:53from the transportation sector.
• 44:54So if that is passed through the Connecticut legislature,
• 45:00it would produce revenue that could be used
• 45:04toward decarbonizing transportation.
• 45:08- Yeah, I'll just add to the EV issue.
• 45:12So there's a whole range of issues in terms
• 45:15of converting to the transportation sector to EVs,
• 45:20which is of course critical.
• 45:21So in addition to making the EV affordable,
• 45:27building the whole network of charging stations
• 45:30which I think maybe that's one of the things
• 45:32you were referring to learn
• 45:33that Connecticut is paying attention to.
• 45:35And then there's the technology is improving all the time
• 45:41for the fast charging occurs
• 45:45which is another critical factor.
• 45:47Like you don't wanna have to wait
• 45:49for six hours in the middle of your trip
• 45:52to get your car fully charged again.
• 45:56And that's also been improving.
• 45:59And then one more of course is the,
• 46:03how many miles you could travel on one charge
• 46:08and that's been improving as well
• 46:11where Tesla now has a car that's not yet really affordable.
• 46:17It's $75,000, but it has a range of 400 miles.
• 46:23And all of these things go together
• 46:25because as the infrastructure improves, et cetera,
• 46:32then as there's more demand for EVs
• 46:36then the price will start to come down
• 46:38to the economy of scale.
• 46:45- Exactly, thank you.
• 46:50Any more credits will help though, right?
• 46:52For us to move in that direction.
• 46:55- Yeah - Yeah, absolutely.
• 46:56- I really love that.
• 46:59- There's an early question here from Brenda,
• 47:04is there a way to categorize severe weather events
• 47:07such as climate change disasters or warming disasters?
• 47:10So it seems like labeling, how do we do that
• 47:14or how can we do that?
• 47:22- I don't know if I quite understand the question
• 47:28of how do we categorize,
• 47:30Brenda, do you wanna specify that?
• 47:34- Oh okay. - Go ahead.
• 47:35- [Brenda] I was just thinking more about the (indistinct).
• 47:39(Brenda mumbles)
• 47:46You know these disasters, but I know
• 47:49that it's probably a challenge to try to figure out
• 47:53how to separate or define how you can go about that.
• 47:58But for me, it's just about people are onboarded
• 48:02to the fact that these severe weather events are not common
• 48:06because the weather is in front of you.
• 48:09- Yeah, no, I think it's a really great point.
• 48:14I think we also have kind of a shifting baseline
• 48:16of accepting what seems normal.
• 48:19When if you look back in time,
• 48:21it's certainly quite extraordinary.
• 48:23And there are studies that are looking at,
• 48:30that look at the the climate contribution
• 48:33for a given large scale event,
• 48:35but generally that kind of connection
• 48:38for each individual one is difficult to do.
• 48:42I'll mention one interesting campaign
• 48:45that a number of groups are putting forward
• 48:48which is to name heat waves.
• 48:52So in the way that we name hurricanes
• 48:56giving a name to heat waves
• 48:58to show how they're significant
• 49:02and that they are becoming more prevalent.
• 49:08Rob do you wanna add anything there?
• 49:12- No, I was gonna mention the heat waves too.
• 49:14I think that would be a nice step
• 49:18in the right direction to kind of emphasis,
• 49:20it would really help to emphasize
• 49:22their importance more if they gave them a name.
• 49:26- Yeah.
• 49:29- Great, thank you both.
• 49:31We have a question from Matthew.
• 49:34How can we find similar reports from other States?
• 49:39- Well, it's one of the reasons that
• 49:41we gave this webinar was to encourage others
• 49:44to produce similar reports.
• 49:50I'll mention that there are a number of cities and States
• 49:53around the country that are funded
• 49:54through the CDC to have a climate
• 49:58and health program in their health department.
• 50:00And through that, they've created reports looking at
• 50:05climate impacts and projecting impacts in the future.
• 50:08So if you live in one of those States,
• 50:10if you look up something like CDC climate and health program
• 50:15you can see reports there.
• 50:20Wisconsin, I'll mention to Wisconsin,
• 50:24some of our extended colleagues in Wisconsin
• 50:28just put out a really great report for their State.
• 50:30And it's especially focused on inspiring
• 50:33health professionals to take action on climate change.
• 50:38- Yeah, I think as far as we know
• 50:40there aren't other reports, do you agree with that, Laura?
• 50:45- I think using this indicator approach is unique.
• 50:53- [Jacy] I had a followup question, Jacy McGaw-Cesaire here.
• 50:56I wanted to on that note know
• 50:59if there was a kind of scorecard
• 51:02in the process or the pipeline
• 51:04to the compare States responses to climate change
• 51:09and health, and maybe having like an NCD
• 51:15but for States to compare that.
• 51:19- It's a great idea.
• 51:22I don't know of any existing work on that.
• 51:28It's probably also worth mentioning
• 51:30that one inspiration for this report is the Lancet countdown
• 51:33on health and climate change
• 51:34which is a global effort to assess climate impacts
• 51:37and climate action from a health perspective.
• 51:41And that does some of that tracking.
• 51:45Like one of their indicators I think is looking at countries
• 51:48that have a health adaptation, climate adaptation plan.
• 51:52So you can imagine doing something like that in the US too.
• 51:55I think that's a great point.
• 52:03- Great, thanks Laura, let's see.
• 52:06I have a question from Susan.
• 52:07Are there any municipalities or towns that are doing
• 52:10a better job incorporating
• 52:11these concerns into their planning?
• 52:14- Brings up a great program to reference
• 52:16which is sustainable CT.
• 52:18And so that's a voluntary program where municipalities
• 52:21can opt to join in and then become certified
• 52:26by taking on different sustainability actions.
• 52:30And those have a whole different range.
• 52:33Sustainability actions is not just about climate change
• 52:36and there are some that relate to climate and health
• 52:42but we would have actually been chatting
• 52:45with them a little bit about how that could be built out
• 52:48to make sure that municipalities are really acting
• 52:51on these issues of climate and health.
• 52:54Oh, great and Myra put in a link to the organizations.
• 53:00- A question here from Jeremy specific
• 53:03to the Lyme disease indicator,
• 53:07were any factors considered into why the total number
• 53:10of Lyme disease cases have been decreasing?
• 53:16- Rob do you wanna grab? - I can do that.
• 53:17- Yeah, please. - Yeah.
• 53:19So well first I'll say that we then try
• 53:24to rigorously figure that out
• 53:28but we have some informed guesses
• 53:31about why there's actually been a decrease in Lyme disease.
• 53:34And the main guess is that it's because,
• 53:37over the last decade or so, there's been a lot
• 53:39more awareness about Lyme disease in the State
• 53:43and about the protective measures
• 53:45that people could take to avoid infection.
• 53:51So I think that's our best guess about why.
• 53:55That was one of the initially surprising trends.
• 53:59We fully expected to see an increase in Lyme disease,
• 54:02but you have to go with the data
• 54:05and that's what we saw.
• 54:07And I don't think it's an artifact in any way
• 54:10because if anything, there would be an increase in actually,
• 54:23not missing Lyme disease cases as we proceed
• 54:27in time as opposed to the opposite.
• 54:29There's no reason why there'd be more cases
• 54:32missed in recent years than in former years.
• 54:40- Great, thanks, Rob.
• 54:42We might have time for one or two more questions.
• 54:45I see one here from from Mike Pascucilla,
• 54:50can you discuss the New England agreement
• 54:52with other States, for example,
• 54:54Rhode Island is one of the leaders in the Northeast?
• 55:01- Mike, do you wanna...
• 55:02I'm not totally sure what you mean by that.
• 55:05Do you wanna specify?
• 55:12Oop you're on mute.
• 55:24- Okay, of course, Dr Bozzi excellent report.
• 55:29As I put in my message,
• 55:31it's not just research it's reality.
• 55:33What I like about this report is
• 55:36it has these indicators, things that people can relate to.
• 55:39I know my colleagues and I have used it
• 55:41and we pushed it out to our community.
• 55:44We actually got some feedback from few of our community,
• 55:47so it's a great report.
• 55:49And as far as I know, I do not think there is
• 55:52another State that has done something like this.
• 55:55We're may have some version of it
• 55:57but not this comprehensive, so kudos (indistinct).
• 56:04So I have to say this, the reason why we
• 56:07have lower Lyme disease rates,
• 56:08because us at the local health department
• 56:10are doing a good job, having a little fun here.
• 56:14You don't get to have lot of fun.
• 56:16(indistinct) Interesting is to see what happens next year
• 56:21and the following year now
• 56:22that our trails are packed, right?
• 56:24So that is probably gonna change.
• 56:28So going back to the question about the newly pack.
• 56:31As I understand, and the governor through the G3
• 56:36is working with other States.
• 56:37And I heard about this
• 56:39and there's been some newspaper articles
• 56:41but I haven't seen anything substantial.
• 56:44And I know the governor has been working
• 56:47with some other States and some climate change
• 56:49trying to sync, that's what our governor is trying to do.
• 56:52And I just was wondering if you seen anything,
• 56:55I know it's happening
• 56:56but I'm not sure it's actually in a report yet.
• 57:02- Well, first so I should give Mike some thanks and credit.
• 57:06So he leads the local health department
• 57:10at the East Shore Health District
• 57:12and really leads on bringing climate change
• 57:15to the local health districts in Connecticut.
• 57:18So thank you for your work.
• 57:20And does it well while addressing COVID.
• 57:24So I don't know.
• 57:27I think the New England governors and in Northeast governors
• 57:29are always collaborating on things
• 57:30and I think fairly see eye to eye
• 57:32on climate change issues.
• 57:35The one that maybe has been
• 57:36in the papers recently is what I mentioned
• 57:38about the transportation climate initiative.
• 57:40So this is addressing
• 57:41and so far three States have signed on Connecticut,
• 57:44Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
• 57:46So that may be what has come up, but I agree.
• 57:52In these small States, again, it's like the air pollution.
• 57:56We are very impacted by what happens around us
• 58:00and also that there is an efficiency of working together.
• 58:03And so if that can happen and now particularly supported
• 58:07by federal government actions and incentives
• 58:11I think that that's where we need to go.
• 58:15- Great, thank you.
• 58:20- Great, so it looks like we're out of time,
• 58:24but if you have any questions again,
• 58:30you can find my contact information or I'll put it here,
• 58:34feel free to follow up.
• 58:36I'm so happy to have a really engaged audience.
• 58:40Thank you again for joining us
• 58:42and thank you to all of you for your interest
• 58:44in your work in this area.
• 58:49Great, take care.
• 58:52- [Michael] Have a good weekend, thank you.
• 58:54- [Rob] Yeah, bye everyone.
• 58:56- [Paula] Excellent job,
• 58:57thank you so much for sharing in.