The California Department of Public Health recently released a new publication – Climate Action for Health: Integrating Public Health into Climate Action Planning -for local government and health planners. The Guide provides an overview of climate change as an important health issue, reviews how many strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions can also improve the health of a community, and presents ideas for integrating key public health issues into GHG emission reductions strategies as they are addressed in Climate Action Plans: Transportation, Land Use, Urban Greening, Food and Agriculture, Residential Energy Use, and Community Engagement. This educational resource was developed with the input of state and local climate planners and public health practitioners and provides examples of health-related language from communities around the state; it contains resources and references that will be helpful in local planning and implementation work.
We’re extremely pleased to see Urban Greening mentioned in the publication. Urban greening efforts provide opportunities to achieve GHG mitigation goals, improve health, and establish a foundation for adaptation to the increasing heat projected for virtually all of California. Urban greening contributes to a reduction in GHGs, air pollution, harmful ground-level ozone, urban heat island effects, and stress. For more information, please see pages 25-27.
The guide is available here.