In this guest blog, Dr. Carl Baum discusses resources available through the Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU) that health professionals can use to prepare and protect their patients and clients following extreme weather events.

We care about the connections to climate change because we care about health. Climate change intensifies extreme storms which threaten health directly and indirectly. By causing more severe flooding, climate change amplifies damage and worsens related health impacts overall. Looking at health through a wider, public health lens, we see that a variety of impacts influence the lives of Harvey survivors, particularly the most vulnerable communities.

A draft of the U.S. government’s quadrennial National Climate Assessment was leaked by a non-profit to The New York Times. The media outlet released the report under the ‘shocking’ headline that the U.S. is already experiencing the impact of the man-made climate change. Medical students were not surprised by this ‘revelation.’ Climate change is already happening, and we are sounding the alarm.

The devastating cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services proposed in President Trump’s budget have rightly gotten a lot of attention.  But there’s another piece of his destructive budget that also threatens the health of our communities and the climate: cuts to public transit and active transportation.

As the impacts of climate change become more frequent and extreme, Oklahoma is likely to see warming temperatures, and increased variability of precipitation events and storms, which will significantly impact the health and prosperity of Oklahomans. These climate impacts will affect respiratory health, food security, and the local agricultural economy. Warning signs like this led the Tulsa City and County Health Department (TCCHD) to recognize the health threats of climate change, and to commit to doing something about it.