Energy, Climate Change,
and Our Environment

The President has taken unprecedented action to build the foundation for a clean energy economy, tackle the issue of climate change, and protect our environment.

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  • Preparing New York for Climate and Health Impacts

    Posted by Kizzy Charles-Guzman on July 17, 2013 at 9:59 AM EDT

    Kizzy Charles-Guzman

    Kizzy Charles-Guzman is being honored as a Champion of Change for her work on the front lines to protect public health in a changing climate.

    New York City already faces serious climate risks, such as heat waves, flooding, and coastal storms, which pose a significant risk to the health and safety of 8.2 million New Yorkers.  For example, in 2006, a 10-day heat wave led to the deaths of 40 New Yorkers due to heat stroke and to an estimated 100 more natural-cause deaths than expected.  Since 2009, nine heat waves, five tornados and two major hurricanes impacted the city.  In October 2012, Superstorm Sandy struck New York City with a record-shattering storm surge, causing 44 deaths and numerous injuries, unprecedented, extensive damage to coastal neighborhoods, flooding major roads and buildings, disruptions in transit service throughout much of NYC, and billions of dollars in damage.  Many may think of climate change as representing only a future risk. But in reality, as health professionals and New York City agencies that respond to protect our city’s residents know, we already face public health risks related to extreme weather events.  Even before Superstorm Sandy’s enormous impact, the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (hereafter, “the Health Department”) had for several years supported programs and policies to prevent illness and death from heat waves, safely remediate moisture and mold problems, and address mental health consequences of disasters.

    The New York City Panel on Climate Change projects that, with climate change, these types of extreme weather events will only increase in frequency, duration, and intensity.  New York City is expected to face higher average summer temperatures and more rapidly rising sea levels, as well as more frequent and intense extreme weather events in the decades to come, potentially leading to many adverse health effects.  Compounding these threats is the fact that the City has several characteristics that can intensify climate hazards. Its dense urban development contributes to the urban heat island effect during heat waves. Its highly developed shorefront places many residents in places prone to flooding in coastal storms. Its many high-rise residences can strand residents without elevator service and running water during power outages. Its diverse neighborhoods vary greatly in level of vulnerability to extreme weather events. 

    Over the last three years, the Health Department successfully implemented a Climate and Health program, which enhanced the City’s understanding of climate-related public health risks, identified vulnerable communities, characterized heat health awareness and behaviors to inform improved messaging, established collaborations with key partners, conducted outreach and developed heat wave readiness tools for service providers that serve vulnerable New Yorkers, and provided public health risk information to inform citywide sustainability and climate resilience planning efforts.  This program contributed to the Superstorm Sandy response by developing and validating new cold illness symptom surveillance methods and implementing surveillance in the aftermath.

    We still have a long road ahead of us. Our goal at the Health Department is to become climate-ready by strengthening our current responses and interventions, ensuring that we have the capacity, tools, and resources to be more effective in the future, and implementing strategic interventions that protect vulnerable neighborhoods, including the City’s growing population of seniors and other high-risk groups, from hazards likely to be exacerbated by climate change.

    After years of working in service of New York City residents, I am honored to have been chosen as a White House Champion of Change and to work with colleagues at the Health Department and in other agencies committed the City’s health and environment.  My team and I are motivated by the knowledge that our densely developed, transit-friendly, coastal city is not only a great place to live and work, but it affords our growing population a less carbon intensive lifestyle than the average U.S. citizen. By working with our partners to help our communities recover, rebuild, and prepare for the next climate-related threat, we are also contributing to the City’s sustainability and climate change mitigation goals.

    Kizzy Charles-Guzman is the Director of the Climate and Health Program at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH).

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  • Changing the Lens: Communicating Public Health Issues

    Posted by Laura Anderko on July 17, 2013 at 9:32 AM EDT

    Laura Anderko

    Laura Anderko is being honored as a Champion of Change for her work on the front lines to protect public health in a changing climate.

    My birthday is Earth Day.  I have at times wondered if this predisposes me to embrace environmental issues a bit more tightly than most. I remember at early age thinking about why society needed to take its relationship with the environment more seriously. Dirty water and air were choking the life out of fish, birds, and humans. Growing up in Chicago, I can remember the feeling of loss and sadness as buses spewed clouds of black smoke into the neighborhood. The Clean Air Act of 1970 brought relief and improved health.

    As a student nurse in the 1970s (the decade when Earth Day was established), our curriculum was completely void of content about the connection between our earth and our health. As I grew professionally as a public health nurse, I actively explored those connections. I taught what I learned to nurses, student nurses, and the public, conducted research about those connections, and finally began advocating for a cleaner, healthier planet for future generations.

    Partnerships between the health sector and other climate change-related sectors and a focus on the common good are critical in public health and have been key to my success educating and advocating for a “health in all policy” approach, particularly in areas such as clean energy and the environment. Few people understand that health is often not a consideration in policy. Establishing partnerships with other sectors broadens the lens for viewing the effects of climate change. Even some climate experts are unfamiliar with the range of health consequences of climate change. Although many experts are familiar with the link between heat, ozone, pollen, and poor air quality resulting in increased risks for asthma, few understand other potential health impacts. For example, as temperatures increase, the geographical range for vector-borne disease such as malaria and dengue fever can expand too. The scale of health risks is on par with the enormity of climate change!

    Along the way, I have been humbled by the knowledge and passion of individuals and the commitment behind many organizations that work tirelessly to connect the dots and advocate for a cleaner environment and healthier world. There have been many climate partners in my work to address the potential impacts of climate change on the public’s health:  

    • The Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, brought nurses together from across the nation to integrate environmental health content into nursing curriculum, practice, and research, and to support nurses to promote healthy environmental policy
    • The Georgetown Environment Initiative and the Georgetown Climate Center, created interdisciplinary approaches to partner with public health professionals and community residents to design climate change adaptation plans, especially in poor communities
    • The American Lung Association, Big Shoulders, the Catholic Health Association, Climate Reality Project, Health Care without Harm, and the National Resources Defense Council have provided numerous opportunities to more effectively communicate the health risks associated with climate change and ways to reduce them through webinars, op-eds, public health reports, testimony, and community educational programs
    • The unsung heroes of governmental agencies who have collaborated to translate the evidence into meaningful public health action. Along with students, I have worked closely with the District of Columbia Department of Health to expand the capacity of an environmental public health tracking system that links weather and health data, and to use this data to assist families to take protective action against asthma risks.  

    The enormity of global climate change and its impacts on each and every living thing can conjure a feeling of hopelessness. It is through working together to educate and advocate that we can restore hope to the conversation. Climate change is more than an economic issue. Climate change is a health issue. In President Obama’s address on climate change and clean energy at Georgetown University in June, he remarked that we didn’t have to decide between the health of our children and health of our economy.  We must be vigilant in communicating and addressing the global health impacts of climate change. I am honored to receive the Champions of Change award and grateful to Georgetown University for its continued support of my work. It is my hope that society will continue to work collectively to ensure a cleaner, healthier earth for future generations.

    Laura Anderko is the Robert and Kathleen Scanlon Endowed Chair in Values Based Health Care at Georgetown University School of Nursing & Health Studies.

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  • Dive In To Ocean Exploration

    Posted by Emily Crum on July 16, 2013 at 10:25 AM EDT

    Watch this video on YouTube

    This summer, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Ocean Exploration and Research invites YOU to get involved in ocean exploration through two unique opportunities.

    Follow Ocean Exploration LIVE: Northeast U.S. Canyons Expedition 2013

    Between now and August 17, NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer, America’s ship for ocean exploration, will be exploring deep coral communities, undersea canyons, cold gas seeps, landslide features, and a seamount. Sound interesting? Good news: You can watch the action live right here.

    Using satellite and high-speed Internet pathways, live video from cameras on the Deep Discoverer remotely operated vehicle and Seirios camera sled and lighting platform located thousands of meters deep on the seafloor is streamed to scientists and the public around the world. Scientists follow along online, providing input and helping to guide the expedition from shore. These same live video feeds are available online 24/7, so that anyone, anywhere can follow the exploration.

    To learn more about the expedition, you can access daily updates, mission logs, photos and video clips, maps, and educational materials. You can also follow the expedition on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to keep up-to-date on the latest dive plans, operations, and discoveries.

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  • Weekly Address: Confronting the Growing Threat of Climate Change

    Posted by Megan Slack on June 29, 2013 at 5:45 AM EDT

    In this week’s address, President Obama tells the American people about a plan he unveiled a few days ago to confront the growing threat of climate change. His plan will cut carbon pollution, protect our country from the impacts of climate change, and lead the world in a coordinated assault on a changing climate.

    Transcript | Download mp4 | Download mp3

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  • Regional Round-up: Support for President Obama's Plan to Cut Carbon Pollution and Combat Climate Change

    Posted by Josh Earnest on June 27, 2013 at 6:45 PM EDT

    On Tuesday, President Obama announced his comprehensive plan to reduce carbon pollution and lead global efforts against climate change. With our country facing increasingly volatile weather, rising sea levels and dangerous levels of pollution, the President presented clear steps that the administration will take to address these problems.

    However, as President Obama stated, climate change represents not only a challenge to America but also an opportunity for us to create sustainable employment and economic growth in the future in a vast array of fields, from building wind turbines in Iowa to designing the next generation of electric cars in California.

    With so much at stake in this debate, from the strength of our economy to the type of world we leave our children, newspapers across the country reported on the President’s common-sense plan. Here’s a sample of the coverage:

    CA – San Francisco Business Times (Riddell): SolarCity a big winner from Obama climate change speech Shares of SolarCity rocketed today after President Barack Obama's no-holds-barred climate change speech in which he laid out a broad series of steps to reduce pollution and save energy including upping the federal government's purchase of renewable energy to meet 20 percent of its total demand and encouraging widespread energy efficiency efforts. But the big boost to SolarCity, the San Mateo-based solar installer and project financing company, probably came from the Wal-Mart shout-out the President gave. He said more than 500 businesses, including Nike and General Motors, issued a declaration calling action on climate change "one of the greatest opportunities of the 21st century."

    NY – Syracuse Post-Standard (Weiner): President Obama to propose climate action plan President Barack Obama today will unveil a sweeping climate action plan that includes the first-ever carbon dioxide limits on new and existing power plants. Obama will outline his plan in a speech this afternoon at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where aides say he will propose mandatory reductions on power plant emissions, the nation's single largest source of carbon-dioxide emissions.

    MN – The Minneapolis Star-Tribune (McAuliffe): Minnesota likely out in front of carbon emissions, climate change mandates Hamilton and several others with interests in environmental issues and climate impacts on local communities praised Obama’s announcement of the effort to address climate change, mostly for its emphasis on curbing carbon pollution. Putting limits on carbon dioxide emissions, as has been done for decades on other pollutants, is long overdue, they said.

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  • Business Leaders Support President Obama's Plan to Reduce Carbon Pollution

    Posted by Valerie Jarrett on June 27, 2013 at 9:45 AM EDT

    On Tuesday, President Obama laid out his plan to reduce carbon pollution — just like we have for other toxins like mercury and arsenic — so we protect the health of our children, move our economy toward American-made clean energy sources that will create good jobs and lower energy bills, and begin to slow the effects of climate change. The plan was immediately met with broad support from business leaders across a broad array of industries. Here’s a quick look at what they’re saying:

    Business Roundtable recognizes the potential consequences of climate change and supports both government and private sector actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally. The President’s proposals today are a mix of commonsense steps we can all support – such as increasing energy efficiency across all sectors of the economy – and measures that will require additional careful attention to ensure they can be deployed in an equitable and effective global framework. For instance, we look forward to reviewing how the Administration plans to regulate emissions from existing power plants. Partnering with industry and stakeholders will be critical to a smart, economically sound approach. The Roundtable has advocated for increased permitting of alternative energy projects and collaboration between the public and private sectors on technology, efficiency and transmission investment, and is pleased to see a renewed commitment from the President. Significant changes to the U.S. tax code should be made only within the context of comprehensive tax reform, not on an ad hoc basis targeting specific industries.”

    Business Roundtable | Dave Cote, Chairman and CEO of Honeywell and Chair of Business Roundtable’s Energy and Environment Committee

    We applaud the President and his administration for their commitment to renewable energy and conservation. Investing in renewable energy and energy conservation are good for business, good for communities and good for the environment. When we use less energy, that’s less energy we have to buy, and that means less waste and more savings for our customers. Over the last few years we’ve made meaningful progress towards our goal to be supplied by 100 percent renewable energy. Walmart now has over 300 renewable energy projects in operation or under development around the world, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has named us the number one user of onsite renewable energy. As we continue on our journey we will continue to leverage our scale in purchasing energy so we can drive down technology costs and make renewable power more affordable for everyone.

    Walmart | Mike Duke, President and CEO

    “Dominion has long been committed to a comprehensive national energy and environmental policy that balances the nation’s needs for clean, reliable and affordable energy with reducing our environmental footprint -- a plan that is cost effective, economy wide and market based. …As the President’s proposal recognizes, the nation must continue to rely on an “all of the above” approach that includes renewable energy, advanced nuclear, natural gas and clean coal technologies as well as energy efficiency, conservation and demand-side management. The key will be doing so in a way that recognizes the broader energy and economic issues through regulatory certainty, compliance flexibility, technological feasibility and cost effectiveness.”

    Dominion Resources | Thomas F. Farrell II, Chairman, President and CEO

    “The President appears to be taking a balanced approach to addressing the issue. The focus on resilience, clean coal technologies, electric vehicles, energy efficiency and transmission investment demonstrates that the Administration is looking at a full portfolio of actions to address the issue - not just cutting emissions from power plants. We look forward to working with the Administration to support those efforts.”

    American Electric Power | Melissa McHenry, Spokeswoman

    “Nike applauds President Obama’s leadership to mitigate climate change.  Nike, together with a number of other companies, has signed the BICEP Climate Declaration urging action on climate change and we are supportive of the President’s focus on tackling this systemic challenge.  Now is the time to work together on an innovative, bold framework.   We look forward to reviewing the details of the President’s plans and working with the Administration, Congress, and other businesses to move forward on strategies to address climate change.”

    Nike | Hannah Jones, VP Sustainable Business & Innovation

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