May 2018

Climate change When it comes to climate change, the debate is no longer over whether it is happening but how fast and how far we move to address it — here in California and across the globe.  The planet is warming. Our climate is changing. Human-related activities —particularly greenhouse gas emissions — are to blame.…

Climate change has been called “the biggest global health threat of the 21st century.” It creates public health emergencies, worsens existing environmental conditions that contribute to poor health, and widens existing health disparities. These impacts are felt not just in distant locales, but also here in California. While all of us will feel these impacts,…

Photo Credit: Ghetty Images “For public health, climate change is the defining issue for the 21st century.” —Margaret Chan, Former Director-General of the World Health Organization Climate change threatens the health and well-being of California’s diverse population of nearly 38 million people and poses immense challenges for achieving health equity. Climate change impacts health through…

I’m a young Mexican immigrant who happens to be an environmentalist.  Or in today’s political climate, a recipe for “Shut up, because you have no voice”. But I do, so here we go. We like to think that we, as humans, are a highly evolved species capable of anything the mind can imagine. Wheelbarrow? Check.…

Climate change directly threatens the health and well-being of California’s nearly 40 million people. Without intervention at the local, regional, and state scales, these dangers will only become more pronounced in coming years. The Safeguarding California Plan devotes an entire public health chapter to these risks, stating: “Climate change threatens public health, as it is…