Advancing U.S. Adoption of Innovative Strategies to Intersect Health and Equity with climate Change Action
Bloustein’s Environmental Analysis and Communications Group’s Executive Director Jeanne Herb is a co-PI with Tisha Holmes of Florida State University on a project that began in 2022 and continues through 2024. Funded by the Global Ideas for U.S. Solutions Team at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the project will identify and translate “bright spots” of efforts outside the United States that fundamentally intersect equity, climate change and health goals and outcomes to advance transformative policy, systems and environmental (PSE) change.
Historic structural racism, as made evident by underinvestment in certain communities and lack of representation of people of color in civic and decision-making processes, are among the same root causes that drive health disparities as well as limit the capacity of these populations to cope, respond and recover from climate impacts. Rather than more research on the causes of climate injustices, what is needed is the identification for promising approaches that systematically intersect community-based health equity outcomes with climate change action in ways that are sustainable, systemic and transformative. The objective of this project is to collect, analyze, assimilate, frame and communicate approaches outside of the U.S. that, in their design and implementation, fundamentally intersect public health and equity goals and outcomes with climate change efforts, and to assess the extent to which those approaches offer promising replicability in the U.S.
Underlying this project will be the establishment of a team of project advisors with expertise in climate change action and health equity, as well as a team of community advisors to provide insights with regard to transferability of identified practices overseas, priority needs to address root causes, and strategies to ensure the “self-determination” of populations and communities disproportionately affected by health inequities and climate change.