Climate Change and Health

There seems to be widespread agreement that climate change is the number one public health issue of this century, calling for a creative response from everyone. “We all make choices every day that affect our health and the world’s health,” said Liz York, chief sustainability officer of the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention in Georgia. “It’s an ecosystem issue—if the world is falling down around us, we can’t be healthy.”

The center began a Green and Healthy program to combine responsible environmental stewardship and health promotion in its facilities. They have for some time sought creative ways to use less water and energy, but now look for new ways to enhance their commitment and personal accountability. Among its employees, they have composed work groups that focus on issues of transportation, green purchasing, green communications, electronics management and recycling. They examine ways to promote walking rather than driving; using a train rather than a plane; purchasing computers without mercury in their motherboards; partnering with local farmers and joining local food cooperatives rather than relying on foods that require fossil-fueled transportation; choosing healthier foods and eliminating plastic foam cups and plates.

They want to lead by example and establish priorities that are carefully vetted so that they don’t latch on to an idea or practice that might be worse than what was done before. York commented, “What we’re trying to get is integration of these ideas into our work habits. We want people to start thinking about the choices they’re making.”

In San Francisco Virginia St. Jean, an industrial hygienist and green program manager in the Department of Public Health, has taken on the challenge to inject new energy into keeping places where people work and live healthy and safe. The Clean and Green initiative promotes educational programs that promote environmental tools for pollution prevention and reduction, and avoidance of toxic chemicals in business operations. They work with auto and marine repair shops and look forward to engaging printers and dry cleaners in the project.

The Lean to Green protocol developed by Daniel Parker of Florida’s Division of Environmental Health emphasizes why and how changes in the workplace are good for the environment and also have physical and mental health benefits. It recommends bicycling and walking, carpooling, purchasing electronics from vendors with high standards of recycling, supporting green roofs and solar energy at all health department facilities and adding green objectives to all strategic plans. Their objective is to encourage workers to take these ideas back to their homes and neighbors and in turn bring
back new ideas.