Transcript of The Nation’s Health Podcast: Climate change and extreme weather: What you need to know now
Interview conducted by Julia Haskins, reporter for The Nation’s Health newspaper.
Listen to this interview as a recording on our podcast page.
This is The Nation's Health Podcast. I’m Julia Haskins, and in this episode we talk about extreme weather events. As climate change takes a toll on the health and wellness of communities throughout the U.S. and around the world, we can expect to endure more extreme weather events. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the global surface temperature in 2016 reached the warmest levels on record. But it’s not just a hotter planet that we have to be concerned about.
Extreme weather events such as drought, flooding and storms are also occurring more frequently and with greater force. APHA has designated 2017 the Year of Climate Change and Health, with extreme weather as the theme for September.
So, what do we mean when we talk about extreme weather events that are driven by climate change, as opposed to naturally occurring disasters? David Kitchen, PhD, associate professor of continuing studies at the University of Richmond and author of “Global Climate Change: Turning Knowledge Into Action,” explains.
How does climate change lead to these kind of events such as flooding, drought and heat waves?
[Kitchen] “These events — floods, major storms, hurricanes, droughts, are natural events and so they do occur naturally. So, what we’re looking at with climate change are really changes which take place statistically over time. So, we’re looking at the increases in the frequency of certain events, or the slow changes in the times of the seasons, which indicate that the climate is changing — (events like) fire, hurricane. So, what we have to do is look statistically over time to see how the climate generally is changing and how the number of extreme events and the intensity of those events changes over time.
And what we see is that across the board, we’re seeing an increase in the intensity of events and frequency of these events. So, for example, floods in a certain part of the country, let's say the northeast, which we might expect to occur every 100 or even 200 years, are starting to occur much more frequently now. So, (that is a) statistical anomaly, it is not the normal weather. Something is definitely happening. And when that is prolonged over a period of time, then we can say that we’re looking at a climate shift not just a random change in the weather.”
Extreme weather has also forced communities to become more resilient learning how to protect themselves in the face of natural disasters driven by climate change. I spoke with Natasha DeJarnett, PhD, MPH, policy analyst for environmental health at APHA, about human resilience as it relates to extreme weather.
Why is it so important for Americans to be concerned about climate change, especially now?
[DeJarnett] “We think that framing climate change with a health argument is really key to moving towards some action on it. Climate change affects our health in terms of air quality. It affects our cardiovascular health and it affects our respiratory health. And asthma and heart disease are two conditions that (affect) many people in our nation.
Not only does it affect them, increase hospital admissions, things like that, but asthma and heart disease also take away productive work days, productive school days. So the health impacts of climate change spill over into so many areas of our life.
It's not just heart disease with air quality and asthma with air quality, there's also devastation caused by climate change. So we've got air quality issues, but then we also have increases in more frequent and more extreme weather events. So Hurricane Katrina, Superstorm Sandy, we are seeing way too many 100-year floods within a much shorter time frame than 100 years. We can't even call them 100-year floods, or 100-year events anymore. They’re happening far too frequently. And these events leave behind such destruction. They displace people from their homes. They harm our workplaces. They harm our schools, our communities. They create such devastation in that regard. And those also not only affect our physical health, because this could lead to injuries and food-borne illnesses, but it also leaves behind mental devastation and mental health impacts as well.
So, we have increased anxiety in people that survive storms or that type of devastation. Increased post-traumatic stress disorders. We have to look at the physical health impacts and the mental health impacts of climate change and see that looking at climate change just in terms of how it impacts our health, we’ve got to take action to protect our health.
And there are things that can be done to prevent the health impacts of climate change to save lives. And some things are simple: creating cooling centers, making sure people know where these cooling centers are so that elderly people, for example, who are at home on a day of extreme heat are not staying at home in an un-air conditioned environment (and) are able to go and relocate to a place that has cool air conditioning to protect their health.
I could give you many reasons why we need to address climate change just on the health perspective. But really, addressing climate change saves money for our economy. So if people only act on climate change because of the…positive economic benefit of it, we’re still improving health at the end of the day.”
What steps should people be taking to prepare for the affects of extreme weather, and how might they be able to curb it in their everyday lives?
[DeJarnett] “Sometimes destruction or extreme weather-type events occur and people don't see it coming. But our news service gives us a lot of information on the weather. So we usually do know, through the news media in advance or meteorologists in advance, when something is going to happen and try to prepare for that based on the information that they provide to us.
There are also communities (that) have storm alert systems that go through what look like microphones in a neighborhood. Once you hear that, the tornado or whatever is coming immediately. But what we can do in advance: What research shows is that if you are able to prepare in advance, at least on the mental health impact, you fare better. Also research has shown that if you evacuate, you mentally fare better rather than being there and living through the storm.
What we know in public health is that everybody is not necessarily able to evacuate. So if communities can plan to make sure that their most vulnerable populations are able to get out in the time of a storm to relocate safely, that’s most important. It’s not always possible, but if we tailor our efforts in that direction, I think that would be most helpful for the communities in which we serve.
But relocating or evacuating is important, if possible. And the further one evacuates from the site of destruction, the better their health, mental health, well-being tends to be. So, as far in advance as we can gather this information from the news media, from meteorologists, from websites that share weather updates, be prepared for a storm, have (an) emergency kit — that’s something that APHA's Get Ready program actively tells our constituents and the greater community, that we need to have an emergency preparedness kit. And in terms of preparedness for climate change disasters, it’s the same thing.
Have this kit. Know where it is. Make sure you have water for a certain number of days. Make sure you have food that can withstand for a certain number of days. Make sure you have (a) storm radio. And if you can evacuate to a safer place, that would be best.”
Extreme weather poses a threat to all people. But the good news is that there are easy steps people can take to prepare for such events. Here, Susan Polan, PhD, associate executive director for public affairs and advocacy at APHA, discusses how you and your family can take precautions when it comes to extreme weather.
Why should Americans be concerned about extreme weather events such as hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes — all this other stuff that’s been happening as a result of climate change?
[Polan] “Because the issue really is with extreme weather, we don't have much warning about when something is going to happen. And if we’re not prepared, the implications and the consequences can be so much worse. If we can avoid, first of all, people getting hurt or even worse, dying, if we can make sure that they’re resilient and able to get back into their normal swing of things — (know) that their homes are in place, that their families are intact, that they are healthy and able to go on with their lives as quickly as possible, it really does minimize the impact that these kind of extreme weather events can have.
But to do that we need to really focus on the upstream and preparedness because, again, we just don't know when we are going to be impacted by these things.”
What are the biggest threats we’re facing right now in terms of extreme weather?
[Polan] “The really interesting thing, I think, is how things are shifting. So, we don't actually know where extreme weather events are going to happen. And...places that we thought might be immune from something are actually not necessarily immune. So tornadoes are happening places where tornadoes don't usually happen.
Here in the Washington, D.C., area we had tornado warnings and tornadoes within just the last few months. So this kind of idea that we thought we could predict at least what kind of extreme weather events we might be susceptible to because of where we live is not even as true as it used to be. Another really good example is extreme heat or extreme rain or extreme cold and (storms). So we know that we can't prepare for what we don't know.”
Right. But what are some steps that all Americans should be taking to increase their preparedness when facing threats of extreme weather?
[Polan] “There are some really simple things that anyone of us can do, and it starts with stockpiling. Having some things in place, on hand, that are easily accessible so that you know that at (the) very least you have your medicines and you have your important medical papers and documentation and that you have some simple food and water — those kinds of things just to last you a few days. That you have a plan in place, that you know where you’re going to be, where your family is going to be, how you’re going to communicate if the communication tools that you normally use are not available.
Do you have somebody out of your immediate area that you can all contact to know that you’re safe if you’re not together as a family? Do you have an escape plan or evacuation plan if you needed to? Some of those just very simple things that we have lots and lots of information and within our Get Ready campaign that you can use that are really good first steps.
But it really does begin by sitting down as a family and talking about what the issues are and figuring out what you need. So it might be that you need to have a few extra prescription medicines in your package. It might mean that you need to have food for your animals and you have to have a plan for your animals. There's lots of different pieces that you can think about in advance. And if you sit down as a family with some of the Get Ready tools, that can really be a good step forward.”
Tell me a little bit about some of the tools that are available in the Get Ready campaign and how families might be able to use them.
[Polan] “Starting with stockpiling, we have some ways to stockpile and the kinds of things that you should have in your stockpile. So, again, do you need your medicines? Do you need food for pets?
And we also have some tools that are available to help you understand how to do this in a way that doesn't seem like it’s overwhelming. So it doesn't have to be overly expensive. It doesn't have to be a huge project. Every time you go to the grocery store you buy a few canned goods that you put in your stockpile. If you need to take out the peanut butter because you forgot to get it last time, just remember to put these things back in.
So we have some tools about how to stockpile. We have some tools about how to plan a communication plan. We have some ways to help you understand what is available in your own community: so, who to ask, what to ask. If you are a parent of kids within a school age, how do you know what is going to happen in the school for your kids?
We have some tools to help you think about who I should be talking to and what I need to know. We have some information that’s available in several different languages. So if you have friends or colleagues who work with different communities, or you yourself speak different languages and know lots of folks who might not be able to access this information in English, we have other languages available.
We have some tools about what to expect if you have various kinds of extreme weather events: so what to expect in a tornado, what to expect in a hurricane, what to expect in extreme cold and what are some of the things you should do to prepare for that.”
That’s great. Is there anything else that you think our listeners should know about the importance of being prepared for all things extreme weather?
[Polan] “Well, I think there are some other really simple things to think about. So, if for example you are in a situation where you need to be in some sort of shelter, being up-to-date on vaccinations is also important. And we have some information about what...the most relevant vaccinations would be for this kind of thing.
One of the most important things really for many people is to make sure that you have what you need. So you often have to think about things that are specific to you. Do you or somebody in your family have high blood pressure? Should you have something in your stockpile that is low sodium? Do you have specific needs related to evacuation because you have somebody who has different abilities? We have information about that.
So, just really make this personal. Make it work for your family. And hopefully we have the tools within Get Ready to make you do that.”
For more information, visit www.APHA.org/climate and www.APHAGetReady.org. Thanks for listening.
Read our full interview with David Kitchen in the September 2017 issue of The Nation's Health: Human health at risk from extreme weather caused by climate change