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Editor's Note: The National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) strives to provide up-to-date and relevant information on environmental health and to build partnerships in the profession. In pursuit of these goals, we feature this column from ecoAmerica whose mission is to build public support and political resolve for climate solutions. NEHA is an official partner of ecoAmerica and works closely with their Climate for Health Program, a coalition of health leaders committed to caring for our climate to care for our health. The conclusions in this column are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official position of NEHA.
Robert Perkowitz is the founder and president of ecoAmerica, Meighen Speiser is the executive director of ecoAmerica, and Rebecca Rehr is the director of ecoAmerica's Climate for Health Program. Dr. Natasha DeJarnett is the interim associate director of Program and Partnership Development at NEHA.
We are orienting ourselves to a new world. We are amidst a global pandemic and economic contraction, and are immediately concerned about our families, communities, and futures. As our perspectives are narrowed, however, by the urgency of COVID-19, our other big challenges, especially the climate health emergency, have not gone away.
If we look at addressing these challenges in tandem, the COVID-19 crisis provides useful guidance for addressing our climate health emergency. The stimulus money we are indebting ourselves with has the potential to go a long way to solving climate change. Comprehensive COVID-19 and economic solutions with a longer-term perspective can lead us to climate solutions-a more prosperous, healthy, thriving, and just America. It can reignite the true spirit of America's leadership.
Environmental health professionals have a critical role to play in climate leadership, especially at the local level. They are a trusted group of messengers who understand the science, as well as health impacts. Solutions to climate change lie in resiliency and adaptation initiatives in local governments, in food safety specialists adapting the field to prevent contamination and shortages, and working professionals bringing this message to their elected officials at all levels of government. Those of us who can continue to work on climate solutions during this time must. The consequences of inaction are too high.
What have we learned from the COVID-19 pandemic that helps us better...