Communities, Climate Change, and Health Equity – A New Vision

This virtual workshop, the first in a four-part series, is hosted by the Environmental Health Matters Initiative at the National Academies.

About this event

As the climate crisis intensifies extreme weather events, increases global temperatures, and accelerates sea level rise, communities least able to respond are bearing the largest burden.

This two-day virtual workshop will bring together people with lived experience, environmental health experts, resilience practitioners, and climate scientists to outline the disproportionate impact that climate change has on communities experiencing health disparities and environmental injustice.

The workshop will address three critical questions: Where are we now? How did we get here? Where do we want to go? Speakers and participants will share their visions for the future and suggest specific policies decision-makers can implement today to address the intersecting crises of climate change and health inequity.

This workshop, the first in a four-part series, will take place on Tuesday, October 12 from 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM (ET) and Thursday, October 14 from 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM (ET). This workshop is public and free to attend.

Visit the event webpage for more information and to view the full agenda.

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To Join

Instructions on how to view the event webcast will be sent to the email you use to register prior to every session. A recording of each session will be made available following the event.

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Agenda At-A-Glance

Day One: Exploring Community-Level Health Consequences of the Climate Crisis and Envisioning our Climate Future

• Session I, 11:20am EST – 12:35pm EST: How does the climate crisis affect environmental health in communities today?
• Session II, 12:50pm EST – 1:50pm EST: How is equity addressed in climate and health funding today?
• Session III, 2:05pm EST – 3:50pm EST: What climate and health equity future do we want to work toward?

Day Two: Addressing the Environmental Health and Health Equity Implications of the Climate Crisis Through Policy

• Session IV, 12:15pm EST – 1:30pm EST: How can current policies help us achieve our envisioned future?
• Session V, 1:45pm EST – 2:45pm EST: How can new federal initiatives help us achieve our envisioned future?
• Session VI, 3:00pm EST – 3:40pm EST: Reflections on the workshop: Where do we go from here?

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Workshop Objectives

1. Bring the public health and climate science communities together to strive toward a shared understanding of the intersections between climate change and health equity issues related to the environment.
2. Provide a forum for decision-makers and scientists to hear from community leaders about their experiences, solutions, and needs related to health disparities that are exacerbated by climate change.
3. Inform short-term cross-sector decision-making and policies at the federal, state, and local levels regarding infrastructure investments, health equity, and social determinants of health that could impact climate change and environmental health, including by identifying actions that need to be taken and actors who can take those actions.
4. Identify a common climate change and health equity framework for researchers and federal, state, and local agencies implementing relevant programming, including developing strategies to a) consider health equity in decision-making and research processes related to climate change impacts on environmental health and infrastructure; and b) consider climate impacts as part of the environmental health decision-making and research processes.
5. Share information discussed at the workshop with communities via an accessible communications product.

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Contact Us

If you have any questions, please contact Emma Schulman at ehmi@nas.edu.

For more information on the Environmental Health Matters Initiative (EHMI) and to subscribe to our mailing list, please visit our website.