Members of the Colorado Public Health Association stand with state Rep. Leslie Herod, center, in February during the group’s Public Health Advocacy Day at the state Capitol.
Photo courtesy Colorado Public Health Association
Amid the extreme weather events that plagued the planet this year, a ray of hope emerged as APHA’s affiliated state and regional associations showed that actions taken at the state and local level can strengthen climate policy and climate justice.
Thanks to grants from the Kresge Foundation, APHA’s Center for Climate, Health and Equity last year selected five Affiliates to participate in APHA State Partners for Climate and Health Equity, which helps the organizations develop climate justice policy campaigns around inequities in their communities.
Armed with technical assistance from APHA, the grantees developed new partnerships with climate and health equity leaders in their states and communities, polished their climate and health messaging skills, developed webinars and fact sheets, and bolstered members’ confidence when talking with policymakers about climate justice.
“It has been great to see Affiliates expand their capacity while also investing in key partnerships,” said Katherine Catalano, deputy director of APHA’s center.
The program enabled the Tennessee Public Health Association to advocate for the passage of Chattanooga’s Climate Action Plan and ensure that language related to health and equity be included. The Nevada Public Health Association hosted a climate justice panel in which participants shared tips for advocating for their communities.
The Maryland Public Health Association credits the program for boosting student and member participation at its tri-state Affiliate conference, alongside Delaware and Pennsylvania, which this year targeted climate change and public health preparedness. The collaboration also helped MdPHA develop a state-specific climate and health fact sheet, strengthen partnerships, and advance educational and advocacy opportunities.
“Maryland’s diverse geography, from its ocean shore to the mountains of Western Maryland, means we have specific vulnerabilities to climate change,” Allie Berry, MdPHA’s climate and health coordinator, told The Nation’s Health.
Baltimore City, where one in five people lives in poverty, has emerged as a vulnerability hot spot, Berry said, noting that increased sewage overflows during and after storms are adding to the woes of a community already impacted by environmental and socioeconomic disparities.
To the west, the APHA program enabled the Colorado Public Health Association to focus on policies associated with climate change that impact human health, said CPHA board member Ellen Stern, MA.
The state association partnered with the Colorado School of Public Health to put climate change front and center at its annual Public Health Advocacy Day at the state Capitol. More than 150 people attended the event, including students, legislators, nonprofit groups and experts from the environmental advocacy field. The work occurred as unprecedented heat caused many unairconditioned Denver schools to cancel classes at the start of the school year.
Back east, the Maine Public Health Association’s activities enabled the APHA Affiliate to secure funding for its Healthcare Systems and Climate Learning Collaborative, said MPHA Executive Director Rebecca Boulos, PhD, MPH.
The Maine collaborative brings together health care workers and staff from various health sectors, including hospital staff and public health professionals, to learn from each other about climate-related activities such as emergency preparedness, energy efficiency and sustainability. Collaborative members hail from different levels of staff within their organizations, “but they’re all either working on or interested in climate efforts,” Boulos said, noting that Maine is experiencing climate change in typical as well as unique ways. For example, climate change is causing the Gulf of Maine to warm faster than almost any other ocean surface on the planet, impacting sea life.
“And that’s impacting the economy and the livelihoods of generations of people that have relied on that industry,” Boulos told The Nation’s Health.
Members of the Tennessee association will be presenting on their climate work at APHA’s 2023 Annual Meeting and Expo during a Nov. 14 poster session.
For more on climate and human health, visit www.apha.org/climate.
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association