Climate Change and Health in Connecticut: 2020 Report

January 25, 2021

Information

Dr. Laura Bozzi, Director of Programs - YCCCH

January 22, 2021

The Yale Center on Climate Change and Health recently released Climate Change and Health in Connecticut: 2020 Report. This comprehensive report tracks 19 indicators across four categories – temperature, extreme events, infectious diseases, and air quality – to demonstrate the impact of climate change, now and in the future, on human health in Connecticut. In this webinar, report lead author Laura Bozzi, PhD reviewed the report’s approach, findings, and policy recommendations.

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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.