prevention
Opinion: Building climate resilience fails to protect human health
The Department of Health and Human Services' focus on climate resilience is insufficient to address the extensive health impacts of climate change.
In short:
- The HHS Climate Action Plan emphasizes resilience without adequately addressing prevention.
- Resilience policies overlook the pervasive and constant health threats posed by climate change.
- The approach may lead to accepting climate disasters as inevitable, rather than preventable.
Key quote:
"Resilience is the categorical imperative of business-as-usual; it is crisis managers buying time. For others, resilience is exhausting."
— Ajay Singh Chaudhary, author of The Exhausted of the Earth.
Why this matters:
Focusing solely on resilience without prevention leaves populations, especially the vulnerable, in perpetual danger. This approach risks normalizing climate disasters instead of aiming to mitigate them.
Relevant EHN coverage:
Canada revisits ancient prevention tactics to battle wildfires
A lesson from Maui: Wildfire risk affects us cities and towns everywhere
Experts like Kimiko Barrett say there are profound lessons in the historic fires for communities across the US, where far more dollars are spent putting out flames than preventing them.
44% of Canadians fear climate change will impact food security
Canada is a net exporter of food with federal analysts predicting an increase in the number of frost-free days would actually boost production.