** The climate crisis is a health crisis
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Friday, November 5, 2021
Centers for Disease Control ([link removed])

This year at the United Nations climate conference (COP26), human health has emerged as a leading issue ([link removed]) , emphasizing the devastating impacts that climate change will have—and is already having—on human health.

Scientific research has continued to demonstrate that climate change is exacerbating a wide range of health risks around the world. Some of these risks (among many others) include heat waves, intensifying wildfires and smoke, heightened flood risks, and worsening droughts ([link removed]) , all of which are already impacting the Western United States. Climate-induced risks are driving difficulties in providing care ([link removed]) as hospitals face unexpected environmental emergency events.

The medical field is well aware of the issue: one letter ([link removed]) signed by organizations representing 47 million global health professionals declared the climate crisis “the single biggest health threat facing humanity.” Dr. Maria Neira, the director of the World Health Organization’s department on environment, climate change and health said ([link removed]) , "The Paris Agreement is not an environmental treaty. It is a basic public health treaty.” The World Health Organization estimates that at least 250,000 additional deaths will occur every year ([link removed]) between 2030 and 2050 as a result of climate change.

The deep connections between climate and health are highlighted at a time when the world has spent nearly two years in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic, underscoring to both the public and politicians the importance of human health and wellbeing.

Right now is a critical time for humanity—and the United States specifically—to address climate change in order to prevent escalating health risks and unnecessary human deaths. On public lands, this means that it is time for the Interior Department to step up to the climate plate and make continued efforts to reduce the contributions of our lands to the climate and health crisis.
Quick hits


** BLM to hold second-ever solar lease sale in Arizona
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E&E News ([link removed])


** Interior Secretary Haaland takes the international stage at COP26, where Colorado student activists have traveled
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E&E News ([link removed]) [Haaland] | Denver Post ([link removed]) [Colorado students]


** New Mexico, Wyoming debate impact of EPA oil and gas methane rule
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Carlsbad Current-Argus ([link removed]) [New Mexico] | Casper Star-Tribune ([link removed]) [Wyoming]


** Experts bemoan Biden's mixed messages on old-growth forests
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HuffPost ([link removed])


** Solar developers explore opportunities to integrate livestock, crops, pollination into installations
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Associated Press ([link removed])


** Forest programs get pruned in latest reconciliation bill
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E&E News ([link removed])


** Conservation candidates win in Montana elections
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Public News Service ([link removed])


** In Colorado, wildlife disease is the next frontier of climate change
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The Journal ([link removed])
Quote of the day
We are making a lot of changes now. Even without the [interim oil and gas leasing] report, we know what needs to happen. We are doing whatever we can at the department to ensure we are analyzing these leases with climate change as a backdrop. We need to absolutely consider climate change, we need to consider the social cost of carbon in the things that we do."
—Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, E ([link removed]) &E News ([link removed])
Picture this


** @G ([link removed]) randCanyonNPS ([link removed])
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Grand Canyon is more than a bucket-list destination. It’s a cultural homeland to many. Read, listen, watch, and learn from the “Voices of Grand Canyon.” [link removed]… ([link removed]) #IndigenousHeritage ([link removed]) #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth ([link removed]) #GrandCanyon ([link removed]) #Arizona ([link removed])

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