Ensuring that health is considered in climate change solutions --[Reported by Umva mag]

October 9, 2024 – Mary Rice thinks that health should be part of all decisions when it comes to addressing climate change and fossil fuel pollution.

Rice, the new director of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment (Harvard Chan C-CHANGE) and the Mark and Catherine Winkler Associate Professor of Environmental Respiratory Health, spoke about her role and her top goals in an October 2 interview on WBUR’s “Radio Boston.”

One of her priorities, she said, will be to fill knowledge gaps to address questions surrounding climate and health—for instance, “questions about what doctors should tell their patients, about what cities and communities can do, and questions that [face] leaders and agencies developing national and international policies to address the health hazards of fuel combustion and climate change.”

Rice noted that, as a practicing pulmonologist working in Chelsea, Mass., she has a lot of patients with conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Such patients struggle during climate change-driven events such as longer pollen seasons, heat waves, and longer, more severe, and more destructive wildfires, which in recent years have spread smoke across the U.S. She said that when it’s relevant to her patients’ health, she explains how climate change is worsening their symptoms, “then I do my best to give them advice.”

Rice hopes that C-CHANGE’s work can, in particular, help improve on the advice that doctors give their patients. For instance, in her own research, she is exploring whether it makes sense for doctors to prescribe air purifiers for their patients, given that the purifiers can reduce multiple air pollution exposures, including particles from fossil fuel combustion, pollen, bioaerosols, and wildfire smoke.

Health harms from climate change “affect all of us,” she added, “especially vulnerable people—those with chronic lung or heart disease, those of advanced age, really little kids—so it’s really important to put our heads together to figure out how we’re going to protect health.”

Listen to the WBUR interview: The link between your health and climate change

The following news has been carefully analyzed, curated, and compiled by Umva Mag from a diverse range of people, sources, and reputable platforms. Our editorial team strives to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information we provide. By combining insights from multiple perspectives, we aim to offer a well-rounded and comprehensive understanding of the events and stories that shape our world. Umva Mag values transparency, accountability, and journalistic integrity, ensuring that each piece of content is delivered with the utmost professionalism.