Climate change cures are possible, but we must urge Congress to act [column] - LNP | LancasterOnline

Climate change cures are possible, but we must urge Congress to act [column] | Local Voices | lancasteronline.com

Several years ago, I was talking with Dr. Paul Ripple, a retired ophthalmologist. He remembered that when he was growing up in Lancaster County, he could ice skate from November through March. I told him I grew up in Massachusetts and remember those same wonderful days.

Today, we are lucky to have safe ice for more than a few days in the winter. We have seen significant climate change in our own lifetimes.

Last year was blighted by extreme heat, deadly wildfires and smog, and it comes as little surprise to learn that 2023 was the world’s warmest year since global records began in 1850.

In Pennsylvania last year, we saw health consequences from climate events in the form of warmer temperatures, smoke from Western U.S. and Canadian wildfires and increased flooding.

We must address the issue of climate change head-on. Mounting evidence highlights the undeniable link between our reliance on fossil fuels and the toll on public health.

Circulation, the scientific journal of the American Heart Association, reported in 2023 on a study that warns of a doubled risk of fatal heart attacks because of the combination of extreme heat and particulate pollution.

Meanwhile, University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health research warns that children living near oil and gas wells are five to seven times more likely to develop lymphoma and increased asthma.

“Increasingly, a changing climate acts as a threat multiplier for numerous public health concerns, often exacerbating preexisting conditions, which can then become health emergencies,” Daniel Burgard of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby wrote in a column published by The Blade, a newspaper in Toledo, Ohio, earlier this year.

Harvard Business Review noted in 2019 that, as communities along the U.S. coast confront escalated flooding threats, waterborne diseases like E. coli and cholera are on the rise. Many coastal hospitals are ill-prepared for the repeated damage caused by climate events, and hospital systems across the country are struggling to adapt their health care response accordingly.

In fact, nearly 700 hospitals along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts are at risk themselves of flooding from hurricanes, the Harvard School of Public Health found.

Meanwhile, climate change threatens to magnify existing disparities. Rising temperatures lead to higher cooling bills, and increased flooding leads to higher premiums for home insurance. Under-resourced communities suffer from increased exposure to heat, pollution, flooding and the impacts of extreme weather. Wildfires, poor air quality, evacuations and power outages pose dangerous challenges for those with complex medical conditions and their caregivers.

“Communities of color bear a disproportionate climate burden but also stand to gain the most as we transition to clean, healthy, renewable forms of energy,” Burgard noted in his column.

“Rising temperatures and heat waves heighten the likelihood of heat-related illnesses and deaths among vulnerable groups, including the mentally ill, unhoused people, and people with disabilities,” added Dr. Alexis Smith, a Mahoning Valley resident and another member of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby. “Other marginalized communities, including the LGBTQ+ community, also suffer a disproportionate share of climate impacts.”

Our responsibility

As a physician who has sworn to “do no harm,” it’s my duty to speak up about the need to transition to cleaner energy sources that reduce air pollution, save lives and ensure better outcomes.

In turn, it’s the responsibility of elected representatives — who’ve sworn to faithfully discharge the duties of their offices — to enact legislation that protects their constituents from harm.

“Just as preventative health care measures guard against dire health outcomes, we possess ‘preventative’ solutions to avoid the worst of climate change,” Smith wrote. “We simply need Congress to take action.”

The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, reintroduced in 2023, would deploy the most powerful tool we have to drive down America’s carbon pollution. The proposed federal legislation puts a fee on carbon pollution, and the funds collected from fossil fuel companies are returned to Americans via a monthly payment so that everyone can afford the transition to clean energy.

This critically needed legislation would improve Americans’ health and save countless lives over the next 50 years by reducing the pollution Americans breathe. Research has found that poor air quality from burning fossil fuels is responsible for as many as 1 in 10 American deaths today.

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker must address climate change and do more to reduce carbon pollution. Please contact him or your own congressional representative if you live outside Smucker’s district.

In May 2022, The Washington Post reported that cutting air pollution from fossil fuels could save 50,000 lives a year in the United States. Imagine this world, one in which the air is visibly cleaner and the climate is stable.

The Citizens’ Climate Lobby asks: Will we continue burning fossil fuels, perpetuating a growing health care burden and an estimated annual U.S. health care cost of $77 billion because of air pollution? Or will we act now to prevent the worst and save countless lives — not to mention health care dollars — in the future?

Alan S. Peterson, M.D., is the emeritus director of environmental and community medicine at Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health and a member of the Lancaster chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby. He is also a climate ambassador for Physicians for Social Responsibility.