Column: Climate change is a health crisis. Let’s start treating it like one

Hawaii demonstrates commitment to addressing the global climate crisis. The governor’s recent State of the State address; the City and County of Honolulu Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resilience; the Hawaii Climate Commission; the state Office of Planning and Sustainable Development; and the Hawai‘i Green Growth Local2030 Sustainability Hub are all evidence of the importance our leadership places on this issue.

These initiatives offer hope that Hawaii will remain resilient as climate change effects increase in frequency and severity. However, Hawaii’s efforts rarely acknowledge the links between climate change and health. Moreover, few offer recommendations for action to address the increased illnesses and injuries that will result from climate change.

For example, the Hawai‘i Green Growth Sustainability Hub is one of only eight United Nations Hubs dedicated to identifying local priorities with respect to the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), and it is the only hub in the United States.

There are 17 U.N. goals and these “form a framework for improving the lives of populations around the world and mitigating the hazardous man-made effects of climate change.” The SDG goals — No. 2, No hunger; No. 3, Good health; and No. 6, Clean water and sanitation — directly relate to health. Other goals indirectly address it by focusing on social determinants of health: No. 1, Poverty; No. 8, Decent work and economic growth; and No. 10, Reduced inequalities.

U.N. hubs develop best practices and raise awareness about local actions to support the SDGs. Our Hawaii hub focuses on economic, social and environmental policies. Specific efforts by our hub support clean energy transformation, local food production and consumption, natural resource management, solid waste reduction, smart sustainable communities, and green workforce and education.

Notably, while all are important, health is not one of the priorities. Arguably, the hub dashboard on statewide progress toward the Hawaii SDGs acknowledges human health concerns associated with food consumption and transportation, but tracking is not the same as action.

An example of an important call to improve resilience to global climate change is the governor’s 2023 State of the State address, which included an entire section about climate change. The governor called for improvements to the resilience of the power grid, renewable energy, sustainable transport, land use planning and sea-level risk. He also wants to assess the impacts of climate change on health, natural and cultural resources. Unlike the governor’s remarks on improving the resilience of the power grid, no adaptation or mitigation actions are proposed for health.

Globally, the impacts of climate change on health are well-researched, with many already being experienced. However, consistent with the governor’s message, this research is insufficient in Hawaii and needs urgent prioritization. Just as importantly, we need policies, programs and action to improve resilience.

There are diverse opportunities to improve people’s health and make Hawaii more climate resilient. Remediating contaminated spaces, especially those at risk of flooding from sea-level rise or extreme precipitation would be a good start. This would immediately limit people’s exposure to health-damaging pollutants.

Other examples could be implementing school-based identification and psychological treatment of children with disaster-related traumatic symptoms and training communities on safe flood cleanup practices. The state could also invest in public cooling centers where people could take refuge during heat waves, as fewer tradewind days are expected due to climate change and many homes lack air conditioning.

All of these interventions are deemed evidence-based by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With additional prioritization, collaboration and expert consultation, it is certain that Hawaii’s leaders could envision and implement many other interventions to improve people’s health and be more resilient to the effects of climate change.

Catherine Pirkle is an environmental epidemiologist, Lorinda Riley is a lawyer/indigenous health expert, and Diana Felton is a toxicologist/hazard evaluation specialist; they submitted this as private citizens, not in their official capacities.