Westfield State University: On climate change, the time to act is now - MassLive.com

Westfield State University: On climate change, the time to act is now - masslive.com

Our climate is changing rapidly, resulting in severe weather events that are altering the course of humanity and the world around us.

As a nurse with a lifelong interest in public health and education, I am forever concerned with the well-being of our communities. It is our physical, mental, and spiritual health that provides the strength and ability to take on life’s challenges, care for our families, be effective providers, solve complex problems, and educate future generations.

To achieve these things, we need access to nutritious food, clean water and air, and a safe and stabile home. Every living thing needs these essential components to survive and prosper. Sounds straight forward, right? Well, it’s not.

The impacts from climate change have been devastating and are multi-faceted. Rising greenhouse gas emissions from human activity have created an environment that has caused intense wildfires and unprecedented flooding, with rising oceans and rivers resulting in the loss of a variety of species. Our warming climate has created drought that has impacted our food supply, leading to a rise in global hunger. Climate change also leads to poverty, with weather-related events displacing over 23 million people. Each year, changes in the environment claims the lives of at least 13 million people.

I have recently been working on a book project with my colleague, Dr. Rajini Srikanth, dean of faculty at UMass Boston. In a collection of essays, “Climate Justice and Public Health: Realities, Responses, and Radical Reimaginings,” we feature topics examining the intersection of climate justice and its impact on public health. Like with the pandemic, social determinants of health reveal inequities and disparities within our health care systems.

Contributor to the volume, Indigenous scholar and Anishinaabe environmentalist Deborah McGregor outlines how we are experiencing multiple crises, and the climate crisis exacerbates all other crises. McGregor asks, in this moment of reckoning, how do we reimagine and re-create our world, keeping climate justice and racial justice at the center of our consciousness, so that all life can flourish?

Exploring this main theme is a critical part of how we need work collaboratively to understand the impact of climate change in our communities and our world.

Actions taken by our government are vital to guiding measures that lead to stemming the impacts of climate change. Massachusetts is not immune to the changing climate, with prolific flooding seen this summer throughout the Pioneer Valley and beyond.

Earlier this month, Gov. Maura Healey’s administration released an updated Statewide Hazard Mitigation and Climate Adaption Plan, called “ResilientMass,” detailing nearly 150 actions state government can take to plan for extreme weather events. Forty-three percent of the Commonwealth’s population lives in coastal areas. Expected sea level rise will likely have a significant impact on these communities. Catastrophic events are happening right in our backyards.

Young people have been a vocal presence in outlining what the future holds, and our students are eager to lead the call to develop practices that sustain our resources.

Westfield State accounting and finance major Daniel Currier, a student member of our Board of Trustees who has researched and presented on the impacts of climate change said, “As students at a public institution of higher education, we have an obligation to utilize the skills we learn to assist our communities during this period of rapid change. Westfield State University is actively preparing students like me to lead innovative initiatives, consider diverse perspectives, engage all stakeholders, and advance their goals and ambitions - all of which will be critical as we work to improve the health of our planet.”

In May, students in our Environmental Science Department traveled to Costa Rica to study local vegetation, forests, and animal life. Led by department chair, Dr. Timothy Parshall, and Dr. Michael Vorwerk, students experienced real environments that have seen a detrimental impact from global warming. In a news interview Vorwerk said, “For environmental scientists, there’s a growing concern that people don’t get out into the environment and actually experience it, and because of that, they don’t’ really appreciated it or care for it.”

We have also set up a long-term, collaborative project with the town of West Springfield to collect flora and fauna surveys at the Bear Hole Community Reserve. Interns work with Department of Conservation and Recreation forest inventory protocols to measure vegetation levels in distinct plots. Students have also worked with the city of Westfield on a green infrastructure project at Westfield Middle School. Working with city officials, students developed a site study and presentation on effective water runoff at the school.

Unless we work together to change the course of climate change, floods, drought, fires and extreme heat are likely to increase, which will alter the evolution of our world. The simple necessities of life are becoming not all that simple. All facets of our society, government, education, private and non-profit sectors, all forms of industry must work together to insure a prosperous future for our children. The time to act is now.

Linda Thompson is president of Westfield State University. To learn more about Westfield State, visit www.westfield.ma.edu

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