The April 9 event, featuring activist Bill McKibben, U.S. Senator Ed Markey, Congresswomen Ayanna Pressley and Lauren Underwood, and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu to include ways attendees can make a difference in their communities and workplace.

The MGH Institute of Health Professions’ Center for Climate Change, Climate Justice, and Health and the Massachusetts General Hospital’s Center for Environment and Health will host “Climate Change & Health 2022: A Roadmap for Grassroots Advocacy” on April 9.

 The third annual symposium, to be held virtually, is an opportunity for attendees to listen to climate experts and come away with tools and strategies they can use to address policies and advocate for real change.

“Every health professional should be educated about climate change and the importance of sustainability initiatives since health care contributes approximately 10% to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and climate change impacts,” says Dr. Patrice Nicholas, the MGH Institute climate center’s director and a distinguished professor in the School of Nursing. “The general public isn’t yet fully aware of the health problems already attributed to climate change, so it’s critical that health care professionals know the issues and know how to use their voice to help curtail the damages from greenhouse gases. This symposium will help them do just that.”

The event is the latest collaboration between the MGH Institute and Mass General Hospital centers and builds upon the highly successful monthly Grand Rounds Webinars they have co-hosted for more than a year.

"Attracting a remarkable group of experts and national leaders is exciting because both centers are fully committed to addressing principles of sustainability, the health consequences of climate change, and climate justice that is a true partnership of mission, vision, values, and purpose,” says Nicholas.

Register to attend Climate Change & Health 2022: A Roadmap for Grassroots Advocacy.

 

Bill McKibben to Give Keynote 

The virtual event kicks off with keynote speaker Bill McKibben, the renowned writer, advocate, and speaker on climate change. Through his nonprofit, 350.org, McKibben has organized thousands of demonstrations around the world, including involvement with the global climate strike, the Keystone Pipeline protests, and the People’s Climate March. His 1989 book, The End of Nature, is widely regarded as the seminal work that brought awareness of the dangers of climate change to the general public. 

“Bill McKibben is the voice that influenced so many of us to recognize the problem of climate change and turn our efforts toward this most threatening of problems, no matter what else we do in our individual and work lives,” notes Dr. Ann-Christine Duhaime, a neurosurgeon at Mass General Hospital and associate director at the MGH center “It is a real honor to have him participate and he continues to be both a source of insightful information and an inspiration for action.”  

Local and National Political Leaders to Speak 

The symposium also will feature U.S. Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), U.S. Representatives Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Lauren Underwood (D-IL), and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.

Markey, a national leader on energy and environmental protection, was the Senate sponsor of the Green New Deal bill in Congress. He is chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate, and Nuclear Safety. “Storms, floods, heat waves, droughts, wildfires have been supercharged by climate change—caused by the ongoing and historic use of fossil fuels—and incremental efforts won’t be enough to keep people safe today or in the future,” he says. “All Americans are feeling the devastation from this crisis, but Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities face an extra burden: the burden of environmental racism.” In March, he co-sponsored Senate bill S.3774 that would address the disparate impact of climate change on women and support the efforts of women globally to address climate change. 

Pressley, who represents the 7th District of Massachusetts, is the state’s first woman of color elected to Congress. A member of the well-known quartet of progressive congresswomen of color in the House of Representatives, she believes the people closest to the pain of an issue should be closest to the power, recognizing that a diversity of voices is critical to making sound policies.  

Like Pressley, Underwood is also a rising voice in Congress. Serving Illinois’s 14th Congressional District, she is the first woman, the first person of color, and the first Millennial to represent her community in Congress. She also is the youngest Black woman to serve in Congress. A registered nurse and a former senior advisor at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Underwood introduced the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act (H.R. 959), a sweeping package of 12 bills to end the U.S. maternal health crisis which President Biden included in his Build Back Better Act. Notably, it would address the fact that poor air quality and heat stress are responsible for adverse pregnancy outcomes, particularly in Black women and those pregnant women with comorbid illnesses such as asthma. 

Wu, who is in her first term as Boston’s mayor, is a committed advocate in addressing climate change and its impacts on the city. She has long championed climate justice and her plan to implement a Boston Green New Deal and Just Recovery would create a roadmap for delivering the kinds of structural changes needed to provide children a future built on sustainable energy, good jobs, and healthy, connected communities. “Climate justice is racial and economic justice,” she says. “Cities can lead the charge to mitigate the threat of climate change, eliminate the violence of poverty and economic inequality, close the racial wealth gap, and dismantle structural racism.”

“The health implications of climate change will affect the health of everyone born in this era,” says Nicholas. “Sadly, the people most affected by climate change are the people who contribute the least to greenhouse gas emissions. So having leaders such as Senator Markey, Representatives Pressley and Underwood, and Mayor Wu engage with our symposium audience is a great opportunity.” 

“We are seeing the impacts of climate change today, on top of decades of other effects of pollution,” notes Jonathan E. Slutzman, MD, director of the MGH Center for the Environment and Health and an emergency physician at the hospital. “I treat people, from communities that have traditionally been socially and economically disadvantaged, who are suffering from these effects. All clinicians need to know this, to work toward a healthy planet for healthy people.” 

Attendees, who can receive continuing education credits, will receive valuable resources about the growing health issues related to climate change that will include policy and advocacy action plans that can be implemented in their home or at work.