Jennifer Giordano

Over the past century, the world has experienced a dramatic increase in emissions from burning fossil fuels, resulting in changes to the climate across the globe (Lindsey, 2022). We know that the outcome of these changes on human health is far-reaching, with every child around the world at risk from at least one climate change impact such as heat and air pollution (UNICEF, 2021). The 2022 Global Report of the Lancet Countdown (2022) confirms that life-threatening extreme weather events are becoming more frequent. These risks and health impacts are changing attitudes of people in the U.S. A 2022 ecoAmerica survey revealed that nearly 7 in 10 people in the U.S. agree that climate change is a serious problem (Hill, 2022).

The leading authority globally on climate change is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) within the United Nations. Every 5 years, the panel releases an extensive 3-part assessment on climate change that explores the science, the impacts, and the solutions. In February 2022, IPCC released findings from Working Group II as part of its Sixth Assessment Report. The Working Group II report—3,675 pages long itself—focused on climate change impacts on ecosystems, biodiversity, and human communities. So, what do these findings mean for environmental health and you?

ecoAmerica’s most recent contribution to the National Environmental Health Association’s Journal of Environmental Health, “Climate Changes Mental Health” is now available in the July 2022 issue.

In this episode of Let’s Talk Climate co-hosted by the Alliance of Nurses for a Healthy Environments (ANHE), we hear from two nurse leaders about how nurses across the US are engaging with climate change where they live and work.

ecoAmerica’s most recent contribution to the National Environmental Health Association’s Journal of Environmental Health, “Climate Change: Everyone, Every Day” is now available in the March 2022 issue. If you follow the polls on climate change, you will discover something interesting: 74% of people in the U.S. are concerned about climate change, with 46% saying they are very concerned. When you ask them if others around them are concerned, however, only 23% say others around them are very concerned. That is one-half the number of people who are actually very concerned about this issue (ecoAmerica, 2020). The gap in actual versus perceived climate concern contributes to inaction on the issue and points to the increasingly urgent need for visible climate leadership and engagement. While 74% of respondents say they are concerned about climate change, 6% report that they hear people they know talking about climate change at least once per week and 13% say it is once a month. That leaves 81% who speak about it a few times a year or less (Leiserowitz et al., 2021). Why, if so concerned about climate change, don’t people talk about it?

ecoAmerica’s most recent contribution to the National Environmental Health Association’s Journal of Environmental Health, “Climate Change: Everyone, Every Day” is now available in the March 2022 issue. If you follow the polls on climate change, you will discover something interesting: 74% of people in the U.S. are concerned about climate change, with 46% saying they are very concerned. When you ask them if others around them are concerned, however, only 23% say others around them are very concerned. That is one-half the number of people who are actually very concerned about this issue (ecoAmerica, 2020). The gap in actual versus perceived climate concern contributes to inaction on the issue and points to the increasingly urgent need for visible climate leadership and engagement. While 74% of respondents say they are concerned about climate change, 6% report that they hear people they know talking about climate change at least once per week and 13% say it is once a month. That leaves 81% who speak about it a few times a year or less (Leiserowitz et al., 2021). Why, if so concerned about climate change, don’t people talk about it?

The must-attend, go-to webcast discussion for the most current and best thinking on climate change ecoAmerica is introducing Let’s Talk Climate to provide guidance and support to climate activists as they seek to expand public support and political resolve for equitable and…

When the Earth Moves reclaims the authentic story and original vision of Earth Day as a bipartisan and socially just environmental movement and highlights the need for people across generations and on both sides of the political aisle to play…

Thank you to all who joined us at the American Climate Leadership Awards Virtual Ceremony on March 25! Congratulations to the winner, CALPIRG Students, who worked on eight University of California campuses to win a UC-wide commitment to 100% renewable…