MEDIA
HAWC and RMI Release Pivotal Study on Policies to Protect Coloradans from Extreme Heat
Colorado introduces bill to expand access to affordable cooling, lower energy costs, and slash emissions from homes
HB24-1352 would convert air conditioning sales to two-way electric heat pumps by 2027
Dr. Laura Harmacek and Dr. Brian O'Connor talk about the health risks of toxic air pollution and why Colorado needs health based standards to regulate health harming emisisons.
Rep. Lisa Cutter and Rep. Mark Snyder talk about their bill (HB22-1011) that would provide state match funding to local governments that invest in longterm mitigation efforts to protect Colorado communities from wildfire damage.
Sheela Mahnke, a Thornton pediatrician, asks the question "How do you know it’s summer in Colorado? Sadly, it’s not just because of the beauty of the hikes you might be taking or the wonderful camping experiences you might be having. Often, it’s because our highways, news outlets, and social media feeds are filled with ozone warnings asking us to limit our outdoor activity."
Ashley Anderson is a registered nurse in Denver concerned about communities struggling with the impacts of Colorado's worst polluters.
The Environmental Defense Fund and Healthy Air & Water Colorado filed motions to intervene in lawsuits that aim to undo methane and ozone pollution regulations that were adopted in December.
The measures were approved unanimously by the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission.
Health care workers are woefully short on personal protective equipment (PPE) – the gear we require to keep ourselves, our patients and our communities safe and alive. The United States now has the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the world, more than 247,000, even before widespread national testing. This is a public health emergency.
Unclean air, extreme temperatures, wildfires and diseases transmitted by mosquitoes and ticks are all things that threaten our health. These are just some of the risks that have been elevated by our changing climate here in Colorado.
Climate change is a medical issue and it is creating a public health emergency. We need our decision-makers and leaders to act now. Most immediately, the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission should adopt a strong Zero Emission Vehicle program — a critical step to reducing harmful carbon-dioxide emissions and protecting public health.
“Climate change is not just a future problem that impacts polar bears on a distant iceberg. Our changing climate, along with the air pollution that catalyzes this change, makes people here in Colorado sick right now,” Kingsbury said.
Healthy Air
In 2019, Denver-Aurora was ranked as the 12th, and Fort Collins as the 24th, most ozone-polluted urban areas in the United States by the American Lung Association. Pollutants can cause a myriad of detrimental health effects—exacerbating asthma, decreasing lung function, and even increasing risk of cardiovascular conditions, such as stroke.
Ground ozone, or the pollutants and chemicals near us that are heated in the sunlight, reaches the highest levels when temperatures are in the low-90s—something that has become even more frequent in recent years. Ozone is a lung irritant, which causes breathing problems particularly for more vulnerable groups, such as the young and elderly. More than 3.5 million Coloradans live in the 11 counties which experience one or more unhealthy ground-level ozone days per year.
Air quality is further impacted by our more frequent wildfires, which have happened more often as drought becomes more prevalent. On state and private lands in Colorado, the average annual land burned from wildfires increased more than tenfold from the 1960s to the 2010s. Smoke particles in the air can increase risk for lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, asthma and COPD, and have been linked to preterm births, developmental delays in children, type 2 diabetes, and dementia.
Healthy Water
In the Western United States, our higher temperatures increase the severity of droughts, which reduce water availability and dry out vegetation. Drought can affect our health by limiting access to clean water and imposing economic hardships on agricultural workers in water-dependent industries and their communities
Higher temperatures can also speed algal growth in our water, and promote toxic species of algal over non-toxic ones. Harmful algal can cause symptoms ranging from skin irritation, diarrhea, and vomiting to liver or kidney damage. With our current levels of pollution, Colorado could see an average of about six more days each year with harmful algal blooms by 2050.
Even more, climate change does not only make drought more likely, but also increases the likelihood of extreme and erratic rainfall. In 2013, Colorado experienced one of the worst instances of flooding that it had seen in decades, producing flood conditions that killed eight people and led to more than $2 billion in damages. By scientific estimates, climate change increased the amount of rainfall during that flood period by 30 percent, and by 2080, the amount of rain falling during extreme 24-hour events could increase 15 to 20 percent across our state.
Healthy Colorado
Heat is one of the biggest climate-related dangers to health, according to the Center for Disease Control. Colorado's average temperature has increased by two degrees in the past 30 years, and projections say the state's average temperature could be five degrees higher by 2050.
When vulnerable populations are exposed to higher temperatures, instances of respiratory and cardiovascular issues increase, as well as hospital admissions for heat-related illnesses. Our warmer summers also put more people at risk for dehydration and heat stroke.
The seven percent of Colorado adults living with diabetes can have trouble regulating their body temperature in warmer weather, and heat also affects how their bodies process insulin, requiring more frequent blood sugar tests. Seniors, in particular, are vulnerable, as age can hinder one's ability to regulate temperature. But most of all, warmer summers impact people on socioeconomic lines, hurting the Coloradans who have jobs where they must work outside or who cannot afford air conditioning to keep their homes cool, and affecting those with the resources to stay out of the heat less.