The Center for Public Health and Climate Change at the Public Health Institute (PHI) congratulates the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for its new Climate Change and Development Strategy. 

The goal of the Climate Change and Development Strategy is to enable countries to accelerate their transition to climate resilient, low-emission and sustainable economic development.  The strategy presents the strategic objectives that USAID will pursue to accomplish this, provides guiding principles to inform climate change programs, and presents a roadmap for implementation that highlights the critical steps needed for integration.

Climate change may well be one of the greatest threats to human health in this century. But the good news? Land use and transportation planning efforts now under way offer public health advocates a prime opportunity not only to help mitigate the future health effects of global climate change, but also to advance policies that can help people live healthier lives today.

Last week, Lois Capps (D-CA) reintroduced legislation, the Climate Change Health Protection and Promotion Act, which calls for a national strategic action plan that would help public health agencies prepare for the health impacts of climate change. In a nation seemingly bent on keeping its head firmly buried in the sand on this issue, this is a welcome move.

With the very real prospect of a nuclear meltdown in Japan, Mother Jones published a graphic that shows that coal is, by far, the most lethal form of power on a lives-per-terawatt basis. It’s an important reminder: Earlier this week, the EPA proposed new Clean Air limits on utilities and the industry has unleashed its lobbyists to cry wolf in Congress.