Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-02T16:49:28.740Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Climate Change and Health: Public Health and Legal Strategies to Reduce Reliance on Fossil Fuels, Increase Air Quality, and Improve Human Health

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 July 2024

Jill Krueger ,
Jamie Long  and
Jean C. Bikomeye
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Reliance upon fossil fuels and limited greenspace contribute to poor indoor and outdoor air quality and adverse health outcomes, particularly in communities of color. This article describes justice-informed public health and legal interventions to increase access to greenspace and accelerate the transitions to renewable energy and away from gas appliances.

Keywords

Renewable EnergyGreenspaceEquityAir QualityClimate Change
Type
Symposium Articles
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 52 , Issue S1: 2023 Public Health Law Conference: People. Policy. Progress , Spring 2024 , pp. 53 - 56
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

West, J.J. et al., “Chapter 14: Air Quality,” in Crimmins, A.R. et al., eds., Fifth National Climate Assessment (Washington, DC: U.S. Global Change Research Program, 2023): available at <https://doi.org/10.7930/NCA5.2023.CH14> (last visited February 22, 2024).Google Scholar
Bikomeye, J.C., Rublee, C.S. and Beyer, K.M.M., “Positive Externalities of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation for Human Health: A Review and Conceptual Framework for Public Health Research,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 5 (2021); 2481, doi:10.3390/ijerph18052481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Namin, S. et al., “The Legacy of the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation and the Political Ecology of Urban Trees and Air Pollution in the United States,” Social Science and Medicine 246 (2020):112758, doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112758.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cushing, L.J. et al., “Historical Red-lining is Associated With Fossil Fuel Power Plant Siting and Present-day Inequalities in Air Pollutant Emissions,” Nature Energy 8 no. 1 (2023): 52–61, doi:10.1038/s41560-022-01162-y.Google Scholar
Bikomeye, J.C. et al., “Historical Redlining and Breast Cancer Treatment and Survival Among Older Women in the United States,” JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute 115 no. 6 (2023): 652–661, doi:10.1093/jnci/djad034.Google Scholar
Bikomeye, J., Balza, J., and Beyer, K., “The Impact of Schoolyard Greening on Children’s Physical Activity and Socioemotional Health: A Systematic Review of Experimental Studies,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18 no. 2 (2021): 535, doi:10.3390/ijerph18020535.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bikomeye, J.C. et al., “Greenspace, Inflammation, Cardiovascular Health, and Cancer: A Review and Conceptual Framework for Greenspace in Cardio-Oncology Research,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19 no. 4 (2022): 2426, doi:10.3390/ijerph19042426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bikomeye, J.C. et al., “Resilience and Equity in a Time of Crises: Investing in Public Urban Greenspace Is Now More Essential Than Ever in the U.S. and Beyond,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18 no. 16 (2021): 8420, doi:10.3390/ijerph18168420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenspace in American Cities: How Access to Parks and Nature Can Improve Health and Well-being (2023), Cityhealth and 10-Minute Walk, available at <https://www.cityhealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/CityHealth-Greenspace-in-American-Cities-Report.pdf> (last visited February 22, 2024).+(last+visited+February+22,+2024).>Google Scholar
Beyeler, N.S. et al., Lancet Countdown: Tracking Progress on Health and Climate Change and American Public Health Association, Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change: Policy Brief for the United States of America (2022), at 1, available at <https://www.lancetcountdownus.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022-lancet-brief.pdf> (last visited February 22, 2024).+(last+visited+February+22,+2024).>Google Scholar
Qiu, M. et al., “Impacts of Wind Power on Air Quality, Premature Mortality, and Exposure Disparities in the United States,” Science Advances 8, issue 48 (Dec. 2, 2022): 1–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Health Sector Commitments to Emissions Reductions and Resilience (January 3, 2024), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, available at <https://www.hhs.gov/climate-change-health-equity-environmental-justice/climate-change-health-equity/actions/health-sector-pledge/index.html> (last visited on January 8, 2024).+(last+visited+on+January+8,+2024).>Google Scholar
Ortiz, L.E., et al., “Public Health Benefits of Zero Emission Electric Power Generation in Virginia,” Heliyon 9 (2023): e20198, available at <https://www.cell.com/heliyon/pdf/S2405-8440(23)07406-6.pdf>.Google ScholarPubMed
Prest, B.C. and Krupnick, A., Resources for the Future, How Clean is “Refined Coal”? An Empirical Assessment of a Billion Dollar Tax Credit, report 19-05 (2020), available at <https://media.rff.org/documents/Refined_Coal_Report_rev_8-20.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Berg, W., Cooper, E. and Molina, M., American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, Meeting State Climate Goals: Energy Efficiency Will Be Critical (September 2021).Google Scholar
Medical Society Consortium for Health and Network for Public Health Law, Renewable Energy Standards: A Strategy to Transition Rapidly Away from the Use of Coal, Oil, and Natural Gas to Clean, Safe, and Affordable Renewable Energy (2020), available at <https://www.networkforphl.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Issue-Brief-Renewable-Energy-Standards.pdf> (last visited February 22, 2024).+(last+visited+February+22,+2024).>Google Scholar
See, e.g. Brady, J., How Gas Utilities Used Tobacco Tactics to Avoid Gas Stove Regulations (Oct. 17, 2023), National Public Radio, available at <https://www.npr.org/2023/10/17/1183551603/gas-stove-utility-tobacco>..>Google Scholar
Gruenwald, T. et al., “Population Attributable Fraction of Gas Stoves and Childhood Asthma in the United States,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 20 no. 1: 75 (2023), (finding that 12.7 percent of childhood asthma cases in the U.S. can be attributed to gas stove use) available at <https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/75>.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
See Seals, B.A. and Krasner, A., Gas Stoves: Health and Air Quality Impacts and Solutions (2020), RMI, available at <https://rmi.org/insight/gas-stoves-pollution-health/> (last visited February 22, 2024).+(last+visited+February+22,+2024).>Google Scholar
Seals, B., Reality Check: Gas Stoves Are a Health and Climate Problem (February 15, 2023), RMI, available at <https://rmi.org/gas-stoves-health-climate-asthma-risk/> (last visited February 22, 2024).+(last+visited+February+22,+2024).>Google Scholar
Building Performance Standards, Institute for Market Transformation, available at <https://www.imt.org/public-policy/building-performance-standards/> (last visited February 22, 2024).+(last+visited+February+22,+2024).>Google Scholar
Cal. Restaurant Assn. v. City of Berkeley, 65 F.4th 1045 (9th Cir. 2023).Google Scholar