Climate Change as a Public Health Issue

The Dose

As climate change intensifies and New Yorkers face record-breaking heat, the city is taking new measures to protect residents’ health. Landlords will soon have to provide air conditioning to tenants, school bus fleets are going electric, and efforts are underway to make housing more affordable.

Cameron Clarke of WE ACT for Environmental Justice is on the front lines of the push to build a healthier New York City. One recent initiative focused on developing an asthma policy agenda.

“We wanted to talk about housing, transportation, education, and the actual landscape of the built environment and craft a policy agenda that connects all of these different things to environmental justice — all through the lens of asthma,” Clarke explains.

On this episode of The Dose podcast, recorded during Climate Week NYC in September, host Joel Bervell talks to Clarke about advancing health and environmental justice in New York and providing people with the tools they need to navigate a complex health system.