Actionable Resources

Click through actionable resources below to learn more about steps you can take to address the impact of climate on health. Watch all programs on our YouTube channel.

"HEALTH SYSTEMS - Managing in Crisis"

Climate Resilience Plan Elements for Healthcare Organizations – US Dept. of Health and Human Services
Elements that health systems and other stakeholders may consider when developing climate resilience plans.

CLIMATE ACTION: A Playbook for Hospitals – Health Care Climate Council
This playbook captures how hospitals are operationalizing climate solutions – inspiring and encouraging hospitals to engage further in climate action while providing a path forward to achieving measurable progress and outcomes.

Building Health Care Sector Resilience - The U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit
The Sustainable and Climate-Resilient Health Care Facilities Toolkit found on these pages provides an overview guide and a suite of online tools and resources highlighting emerging best practices for developing sustainable and climate-resilient health care facilities.

The New Reality: Climate Resilience and Healthcare Facilities Management – Intellis
Climate change has become one of the greatest concerns of our time, especially for those who manage hospitals and healthcare physical assets and infrastructure. Designing buildings that are truly sustainable and resilient means taking into account the potential side effects of climate change.

The State of Climate Resilience and Climate Mitigation Efforts at Essential Hospitals– America’s Essential Hospitals 
This report presents findings categorized into five topics: practices related to building climate resilience; practices related to mitigating climate change; leadership and funding; community engagement; and partner and coalition participation. The findings from this project identified five key recommendations for policymakers and funders.

Climate Resilience for Health Care and Communities – Health Care Without Harm
Through case studies, this paper outlines actions health systems can take to improve their ability to adapt and recover from climate-driven service impacts, strengthen long-term sustainability, and support health and equity in the communities they serve.

How Health Care Organizations Are Preparing for Climate Shocks and Protecting Vulnerable Patients – The Commonwealth Fund
Profiles of health care organizations that are taking steps to become more climate resilient and protect vulnerable patients, including those who are elderly, have chronic conditions, or lack social supports.

Are We Preparing the US Healthcare System for Climate Change? – Climate for Health
When hospitals cannot operate due to lack of preparedness, our most vulnerable end up being disproportionately impacted and suffering otherwise preventable consequences.

This New NYC Hospital Is Designed to Be Hurricane-Proof – Gizmodo
Ten years after Hurricane Sandy flooded the emergency room at the old Coney Island Hospital in Brooklyn, a new, climate-resilient hospital has been erected in its place.

Tackling Climate Change Can Save Hospitals Money – Time Magazine

Can Hospitals Turn Into Climate Change Fighting Machines? – Politico Magazine

"PEOPLE & COMMUNITIES"

Protecting Disproportionately Affected Populations from Extreme Heat – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Facts, figures, guidance, and checklists to help protect those most affected by global heating. 

New York City Climate and Health Profile – NYC.gov
The Climate and Health Program launched a strategic planning process to assess current climate health risks, identify populations who are especially vulnerable, determine the potential impacts of climate change on public health and inform adaptation strategies.

Environment and Health Data Portal: Climate and Health – NYC.gov
City and neighborhood reports, data sets, and data stories that provide information and steps to take in addressing global heating, especially as it relates to those populations & communities most affected.

Airnow.gov
AirNow reports air quality using the official U.S. Air Quality Index (AQI), a color-coded index designed to communicate whether air quality is healthy or unhealthy for you. When you know the AQI in your area, you can take steps to protect your health.

PlaNYC: Getting Sustainability Done – NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate & Environmental Justice
Responding to and preparing for climate change means improvements to our daily lives today, and a future that is more equitable, healthy, and resilient. Access the full report, in addition to reading about the background of PlaNYC: Getting Sustainability Done, and the major challenges and opportunities it addresses.

Preparing for a New World of Weather and Climate Extremes – Massachusetts Institute of Technology
A scalable toolkit to help vulnerable populations face the new reality of intensifying climate events and accelerate the transition to low-carbon resources. Included a downloadable factsheet.

Climate and Health Outlook – U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
The Climate and Health Outlook is an effort to inform health professionals and the public on how our health may be affected in the coming months by climate events and provide resources to take proactive action. Includes a monthly downloadable report.

Managing the Risks from Climate Extremes at the Local Level – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
These localized impacts of climate disasters can cascade to have national and international ramifications. The responsibility for managing such risks requires the linkage of local, national, and global scales. This chapter of the Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation report addresses these impacts and the adaptations needed to address them. The entire report is available here.

How to Center Racial Justice in Your Climate Action Planning – Point B
Climate change and inequality operate in a vicious cycle. Thanks to years of institutionalized racism and systemic inequality, communities of color and low-income populations – those least responsible for climate change – bear the greatest burden. Downloadable guide that provides actionable steps for weaving climate and racial justice considerations into every step of your climate action planning.

EPA Report Shows Disproportionate Impacts of Climate Change on Socially Vulnerable Populations in the United States – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
EPA report showing that the most severe harms from climate change fall disproportionately upon underserved communities who are least able to prepare for, and recover from, heat waves, poor air quality, flooding, and other impacts. The analysis indicates that racial and ethnic minority communities are particularly vulnerable to the greatest impacts of climate change.

Report: Inequalities exacerbate climate impacts on poor – The United Nations
Governments can take steps to reduce the risks of climate change to vulnerable populations by addressing root causes of inequalities.

What Canadian wildfire smoke means for the most underserved New Yorkers – New York Amsterdam News
If you expose a community that has an underlying vulnerability to an acute event like the smoke, versus a community that doesn’t have those underlying vulnerabilities, you are going to see a larger effect in that more vulnerable community.

"TELL THE STORY"

Putting Health at the Center of Climate Change – Stanford Social Innovation Review
How can people withstand the impacts of climate change or help solve the problems they face if they aren’t healthy enough to thrive day to day?

Climate Change in the American Mind: Beliefs & Attitudes, December 2022 – Yale Program on Climate Change Communication
This report is based on findings from a nationally representative survey – Climate Change in the American Mind – conducted by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication.

Can We Find a New Way to Tell the Story of Climate Change? – The New Yorker
An emerging genre of climate memoirs searches for narratives that will not only convince readers of the crisis at hand but galvanize them to do something about it.

Story Telling – Climate Generation
Climate change is complicated and can often feel far removed from our lives. Sharing our personal stories of climate change can place facts into context and can help us understand how it is relevant to our lives.

Tell Your Own Climate Story – Climate Stories Project
Climate change is underway in every community on Earth, and you do not need to be a scientist or policy expert in order to share your climate story or interview others about theirs.

Climate Storytelling – American Public Health Association (APHA)
Compelling stories generate empathy and understanding. They take listeners on an emotional journey and offer a sense of hope that inspires positive change. APHA’s Center for Climate, Health and Equity is working to lift every voice to advocate for climate action today.

Telling the Story of Climate Science - The Gates Cambridge Trust
How do you tell the story of climate science and why does it matter?

9 powerful stories about climate change
Connect to some of the best climate change stories on the web, looking at what makes them work, and how you can tell stories about our changing climate that will make a difference.

Storytelling Will Save the Earth – Wired
Emotional resonance, not cold statistics, will bring home the scale of the climate crisis—and the need for action.

The Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments (ANHE)
The Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments (ANHE) is the only national nursing organization focused solely on the intersection of health and the environment.

George Mason University, Center for Climate Change Communication
George Mason University, Center for Climate Change Communication, develops and applies social science insights to help society make informed decisions that will stabilize the earth’s life-sustaining climate, and prevent further harm from climate change.

The Medical Society Consortium on Climate & Health
Doctors and nurses have a crucial part to play in raising awareness of the public about the implications of climate change on health and healthcare. To facilitate the medical community’s awareness-raising efforts, the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health (Consortium) brings together associations representing over 700,000 clinical practitioners.

The Global Climate & Health Alliance
The Alliance is made up of health and development organizations from around the world united by a shared vision of an equitable, sustainable future. Their vision is a world in which the health impacts of climate change are kept to a minimum, and the health co-benefits of climate change mitigation are maximized.

Citizen Climate Lobby
Citizens’ Climate Lobby is a climate change organization that exists to create the political will for a livable world by enabling individual breakthroughs in the exercise of personal and political power.