Communities in the Northeast face a number of health risks from the impacts of climate change. These include heat related illness from rising temperatures, respiratory health impacts from worsening air quality, disease and displacement resulting from rising seas and coastal storms, and disruption of critical services like access to medical care during extreme events impact physical and mental health–impacts which are often disproportionately felt by marginalized and low-income residents. CCRUN’s health sector has worked with stakeholders to produce actionable research for use in public health messaging, preparedness, and warning systems. The team uses downscaled models to project health impacts while taking future climate and population changes into account.
New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene wanted to better understand how heat risk varies across the city. Partnering with the Health Department, CCRUN researchers analyzed the spatial differences in heat mortality and morbidity. A social vulnerability index (for extreme heat) was developed by the CCRUN team which identified the South Bronx as an area with high heat sensitivity. The Mayor’s Office of Resiliency used the index as the foundation of their Cool Neighborhood’s strategy. The City recognized the need to engage at the neighborhood scale through partnerships with community groups. The Point CDC, a Community Based Organization in Hunts Point, was an important partner and collaborator in implementing the program at the community scale through the Be a Buddy Program.
Jones, H. M., Mecray, E., Birkel, S. D., Conlon, K., Kinney, P., Silva, V. b. s, … Surgeon Rogers, Tm. (2019). Understanding Decision Context to Improve Heat Health Information. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0042.1
Kinney, P. L. (2018). Temporal Trends in Heat-Related Mortality: Implications for Future Projections. Atmosphere, 9(10), 409. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos9100409
Kinney, P. L. (2018). Interactions of Climate Change, Air Pollution, and Human Health. Current Environmental Health Reports, 5(1), 179–186. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-018-0188- x
New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
New York State Department of Health
Massachusetts Department of Health
City of Boston Elderly Commission
Dr. Patrick Kinney
pkinney@bu.edu
GreenRoots
Location: Chelsea, Massachusetts
Website: www.greenrootschelsea.org
Project Title: Mitigating the Impacts of Heat Islands through Community-led, Nature-based Solutions
Project Description: Funding from the Consortium for Climate Risk in the Urban Northeast will help advance community resilience and improve environmental justice areas of concern through the following heat mitigation and air quality improvement strategies: 1. Greater green and open space: GreenRoots is transforming a vacant, urban parcel, 212 Congress Ave, into an urban oasis with trees, plantings, shade structures and hydration stations. Pre- and post- monitoring of the heat index and surveying with neighborhood residents of personal perception of heat will determine the use and benefits of this demonstration project. 2. Resident Engagement: GreenRoots staff will conduct multilingual community outreach to connect residents in heat-vulnerable neighborhoods to cooling solutions (ongoing). Engagement includes: door knocking, flyering, stand-outs in public areas, social media, other online strategies and in-person events in the vacant parcel. 3. Implement Cool Block Strategies: Collaborate with BSLA, BU School of Public Health and City of Chelsea on installation of Cool Block strategies including painting white roofs, temporary art and data visualizations, cooling structures and possible water features at 212 Congress.