Climate Change is Making Us Sick in Washington
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Max Savishinsky, WPSR
Phone: 206.547.2630
Email: Max@WPSR.org
Impacts and Solutions are Focus of WPSR's Climate/Health 2022 Report
Seattle, July 14, 2022 - Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility released its 2022 Climate and Health Report, detailing the harms of climate change to human health. The report enumerates the opportunities for improving the quality of life for millions of Washingtonians through climate action, including actionable steps that individuals, businesses, and policy-makers can take.
Climate change and human health are inextricably linked, and the worsening effects of climate change are already having real, documented impacts on the health of Washington communities. The report finds that the 2020 wildfire smoke in Western Washington led to as many as 179 excess deaths from respiratory illnesses. From wildfire smoke to extreme weather events, Washington residents, especially low-income and BIPOC Washingtonians, are facing increasing rates of asthma, heat related illness, and threats from infectious diseases, among countless other health concerns.
“The longer we wait to act, the more the earth will warm, the more the climate will be disrupted, and the more dire and widespread the impacts and harms on people will become,” writes Ken Lans, a founding member of WPSR and a member of the Climate and Health Task Force.
This report serves as a guide for tackling climate-related health factors in our policies, in our healthcare providers’ offices, and in our homes. Download the 2022 Climate and Health Report.
Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility (WPSR) is a health professional-led advocacy organization working to create a healthy, just, peaceful and sustainable world. For over 40 years, WPSR has taken on the gravest threats to human health and survival, including advocating for nuclear abolition, economic equality, and climate justice.
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For more information, contact Max Savishinsky at Max@WPSR.org