Climate Change Threatens Health Of Everyone In Tri-County Region

PORTLAND, OR — Obviously you can't really forget the global pandemic that continues affecting life in many ways. But, as a new report from Washington, Multnomah, and Clackamas counties suggests, put it aside for a quick moment.

Do that and the report points out that the three biggest catastrophes affecting the region in the past 10 months ≠ last year's wildfires, the ice storm that started this year, and the heat dome that brought temperatures to 116 degrees over the summer – and all were caused by climate change.

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The report, the Second Regional Climate and Health Monitoring Report, details how climate change drives extreme weather events, which in turn leads to the spread of disease, poor air quality, and situations like the heat dome. Nearly 100 deaths in the area were attributed to the heat dome this summer.

"During the heat event, many of the people who died were older and lacked adequate air conditioning," Washington County senior program coordinator Kathleen Johnson said.

"Extreme climate events worsen existing economic and health inequities and disproportionately affect low-income, Black, Indigenous, Latinx and other communities of color as well as older people, children, people with underlying health conditions and people with disabilities."

The report, which focuses on events through the end of 2020, was funded by a grant from the National Association of County and City Health Officials with additional support from the Centers for Disease Control.

Officials say that one of the goals of the study was to give them a better understanding of how climate change is affecting the health of people. Where the facts call for it, the report draws lines between weather events and health effects.

One example cited is how in the four weeks after the 2020 wildfires, asthma-related visits to the emergency room jumped by a third.

"As public health workers, we are trained to get to the root cause of poor health," Multnomah County Healthy Homes and Communities Supervisor Brandon Haggerty says.

"When we’re talking about climate change, there are two things we need to do to protect health: stop using fossil fuels and strengthen our infrastructure to withstand the hazards we’re already beginning to experience."

Regional health officials say that a big takeaway from the report is the scarcity of information about how climate change affects people's mental health. The report stresses the need for a way to measure the impact of climate change on the well-being of people.

"I'm starting to get more people coming to me with climate concerns, especially young people, psychologist Thomas Doherty says. "Every therapist in Portland is seeing this. With the fires, smoke, and heat last year, it's right here in our lives.

"It's in front of us."