Health & Well-Being
Climate change poses significant threats to human health, but we can address these challenges by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, building resilient communities, and investing in public health infrastructure.
By mitigating climate change and adapting to its impacts, we can reduce health problems, protect vulnerable populations, and ensure a healthier, more resilient future for all.
Healing the Planet
Climate change is a pressing global challenge with profound implications for human health. Rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and changes in precipitation patterns are affecting our well-being in multiple ways. Heat-related illnesses, food insecurity, vector-borne diseases, and mental health issues are some of the challenges we face.
Addressing climate change is not merely an environmental imperative. It is a public health necessity. By reducing greenhouse gas emissions, investing in sustainable infrastructure, and promoting climate-resilient communities, we can mitigate the adverse health impacts of climate change. Protecting our planet also safeguards the health and well-being of future generations.
“Helping policymakers to address the huge array of climate-related health problems as climate change accelerates is a very important scientific and practical problem.”
Health & Well-Being Climate Solutions Accelerator Projects
Co-Design Climate Resilient Community Health and Climate Justice in Harrisburg, Pa.
Designing the Future of Recovery: Catalyzing Conversations on Community-Centric Resilient Housing Solutions in Rural Appalachia
Furthering Indigenous-Led, Nature-based solutions through Rights and Onsets in the Global South
Integrated CO2 Mineralization and Critical Mineral Recovery for Sustainable Urban and Transportation Systems
Augmenting Climate Transition across the Atlantic Transect: Extension-driven Solutions to Implementing Socially Responsible, High-Integrity Forest Carbon Offsets
Biomaterials and Nature-Based Solutions: Achieving a Sustainable, Decarbonized, and Climate-Resilient Built Environment
Building Capacity for Subnational Climate Action
Carbon Management: Capture, Transport, and Geological Storage
Scaling One Health Approach through Multistakeholder Engagement in Arthropod Adaptations to Ecosystem Plasticity Associated with Climate Change
Research Program for Assisted Subnational Climate Planning
Climate-Driven Pluvial Flooding: Impacts on Environmental Non-Migrants in Central Pennsylvania
Developing and Evaluating Climate Solutions Educational Strategies through Leave No Trace
Developing Transformative Youth-Centered Research Agendas & Intergenerational Collaborations to Foster Climate Justice Solutions
Implementing State-Level Climate Change Policy and Management for Water Resources
The Penn State – Belizean Foundation for Research and Environmental Education Consortium Workshop
Penn State Mineral Dust and GeoHealth Workshop
Protecting Indigenous Lands and Promoting Ethical Conservation Practices Through Design of a Sustainable Environmental Monitoring Network
Resilience and Equity in Addressing Climate Health
Impact
New study reveals possible future health impacts related to climate mitigation
A Penn State-led research team explored almost 30,000 simulated future scenarios and found that some climate mitigation efforts could lead to harmful health impacts in certain geographic areas. The researchers found some scenarios where fossil fuel reduction requires a significant land use change such as deforestation, leading to worsening air quality.
Social Science Research Institute launches climate, society, health initiative
A new Penn State initiative will focus on climate change and how extreme weather events impact human health, especially in underserved populations across the globe. The Social Science Research Institute’s Climate, Society and Health Initiative aims to help research move beyond documentation of climate events and their association with health threats to strategies that support individual and community resilience.