USA: Wildfire, floods, extreme heat: California prepares for climate change
By Anna Maria Barry-Jester
While the U.S. has moved away from the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change, the state of California has dug in. Alongside New York and Washington, it created the United States Climate Alliance, a coalition looking to uphold the agreement through state actions. It’s also fighting with the Trump administration over the state’s long-standing restrictions on car emissions, which traditionally have been more stringent than federal standards.
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The state, with its range of climates and landscapes, faces multiple threats from climate change. More frequent and larger wildfires are among the most visible, but flooding, increased air pollution, the spread of infectious diseases and more days of extreme heat also are looming. The connection between climate and health was the topic of a recent panel in San Francisco at the Kaiser Family Foundation (Kaiser Health News, which produces California Healthline, is an editorially independent program of the foundation).
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Q: Can you tell us a little about the link between climate change and health? What are the concerns?
[Kate Gordon, director of Governor Gavin Newsom’s s Office of Planning and Research] I think there are several important links. One of them is just the impact of physical climate change on the California environment. Things like extreme heat in Southern California, the Inland Empire, the Central Valley. Outdoor workers can have heatstroke. Kids can be in danger of that if they go outside during P.E. So, that’s a real issue for a lot of folks in those parts of California.
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Q: Where has California made the most progress in preparing for and preventing the health risks of climate change?
California has made important strides on the link between direct mobile sources of pollution and health. Our cap-and-trade program, our carbon trading program in the state, the proceeds from that go into a budget that we call the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. That money gets spent on specific things to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and in particular to address the impact on disadvantaged communities.
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