New report released on effects of climate change on Montanans' health

An author of a report on the impacts of climate change in Montana said their work writing the report made one thing clear: People throughout the state, country and world need to come together and solve this problem despite whatever deep rooted cultural and political differences they have.

“One thing about climate change is that it doesn’t recognize any borders. It’s an equal-opportunity disaster,” Robert Byron of the Montana nonprofit Montana Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate said. “… This is one thing where we can’t say, ‘It’s not my job.’”

The group who wrote the report, “Climate Change and Human Health in Montana: A Special Report of the Montana Climate Assessment,” in a virtual press conference Tuesday talked about the report, its audience and its recommendations.

The report builds on the 2017 Montana Climate Assessment by adding what has been learned from numerous health-related studies to analyze health impacts of climate change and what can be done to mitigate these impacts.

A press release about the report lists the key messages of the report warning that climate change will increase summer temperatures create periods of extreme heat, with many day over 90 degrees F, reduced air quality from smoke produced by larger and more frequent wildfires, and yet unpredicted extreme weather events including rapid spring snowmelt, flooding, drought and stronger storms.

Smoke in particular will be dangerous to people with chronic illnesses, the elderly, the poor and/or homeless, and American-Indian communities.

The primary recommendations of the report include mitigating the health and economic impacts of climate change by creating and funding a coordinated statewide public health network that brings together public health experts, emergency and environmental services, clinicians, climate scientists, elected leaders and other stake holders.

Lead author of the report Dr. Alexandra Adams said such a network would improve the state’s ability to solve climate change related problems.

Improving information collection and sharing information on climate change and public health between the state and local levels is another major recommendation of the report.

It also recommends funding training for stakeholders, landowners, professionals and leadership to increase technical expertise in implementing climate change adaptation policies.

The full report can be found at http://montanaclimate.org along with the 2017 Montana Climate Assessment.

David Mark a physician and CEO of Big Horn Valley Health Center, moderated the meeting, which included most of the report’s authors as well as panelists relevant to the subject, including Montana State University-Northern Little River Institute Program Director Erica McKeon-Hanson.

Mark said this report provides insights for health care professionals, bridging the gap between climate science and his own field of expertise.

“As a physician who often cares for vulnerable patients with tenuous health, that really do feel the impact of our changing climate, I am particularly excited about this report, both because it’s thoroughly researched, and it’s super practical,” he said.

McKeon-Hanson, also a member of the Hill County Health Board, said this report is an important step in the local effort against climate change and will serve as a guide for both public health and the agriculture industry.

She said it lays out the evidence of climate change’s effect on human health in an accessible way and it has already enhanced her work studying the effects of local algal blooms on human health.

She said she was born and raised in a rural agriculture-based community and is also concerned about the impact of climate change on her family and friends who rely on the industry for food and often their livelihoods, and praised the report for providing tangible ways ag producers can help make things better.

Another author of the report, Cathy Whitlock, said while quantification is difficult data suggests that temperatures in Montana could rise as much as 10 degrees by the end of the century if nothing is done which will have a huge effects on ag workers who do much of their jobs outside.

Co-author Lori Byron said one in three ag producers in Montana feels anxiety over climate change’s effect on their business as well.

McKeon-Hanson said the report will go a long way to helping Montana fight climate change.

“I will sleep better at night knowing my children, including one that already deals with two autoimmune diseases on a daily basis, will live a healthier life as a result of informed decisions guided by this report,” she said.

Adams said the effects of climate change on Montana are not a far-off thing and they are effecting the health of Montanans especially those in vulnerable populations.

“The effects of climate change are not just in our future, they’re here now in the form of wildfires, flooding, and vector-borne diseases, and are already affecting our loved ones and communities today,” she said.

She said she wants the report to open a state-wide conversation about climate change’s effects on human health in Montana especially for Native Americans, the poor, the elderly, and others, whose health is are greater risk than most.

She said she also wants this report to send a message of hope by giving individuals communities and health care facilities actionable advice on how to help curb climate change, in part by highlighting things communities around the state are already doing that can serve as a model for others.

Adams said the report is based on two years of research, work and collaboration by Montanans, for Montanans.

Like McKeon-Hanson, she said she also has a child vulnerable to the effects climate change can have on people’s health.

She said her son Duncan, who lives in Seattle, was stuck inside with two HEPA filters running because of recent wildfires’ effect on the air quality, fires that are becoming worse and worse due to climate change.

Beyond her own family’s interests, she said, she worries about the people who don’t have the money for things like HEPA filters, or even homes to put them in.

Julia Ryder a registered nurse working in the Emergency Room of Bozeman Health as well as a board member of Montana Health Care Professionals for a Healthy Climate, also spoke about the report’s focus not just on individual health, but public health as well.

She also praised it for addressing a disconnect she sees between how hospitals operate, and their duty to protect people’s health.

Having worked in hospitals for nearly a decade, she said, she is interested in the carbon footprint of these facilities which are usually cleared to produce tremendous amounts of waste and consume copious amounts of power.

Ryder said the report seeks to address that disconnect by pointing out ways these facilities can improve their operations to reduce their impact on the climate.

Executive Director of Climate Smart Missoula Amy Cilimburg also talked about the report’s utility as a guide for groups like hers which seek to create programs for getting people informed, active and cooperating with neighbors to fight climate change.

Mental health impacts

State Epidemiologist for the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services Laura Williamson spoke about the the report’s focuses on climate change’s mental health, chronic disease and health equity, all of which are priorities of DPHHS.

Williamson said mental health is an especially serious issue in Montana, with 1 in 10 residents reporting significant mental distress and a state suicide rate twice that of the U.S.

She said climate change is making extreme weather events larger and more frequent which are effecting resident’s already troubled mental health.

She said it’s important to note that these issues do not affect people equally and people with existing mental health issues are particularly vulnerable, especially those in trying financial situations.

“Not all Montanans have the means or ability to simply stay indoors, or turn on the air conditioning during those hot summer days filled with wildfire smoke,” she said.

Ray Rasker, executive director of Headwaters Economics, a non-profit, non-partisan research and support organization, also said the disproportionate nature of the effect of climate change are obvious particularly when it comes to the issue of wildfires.

“It’s destroying more homes and killing more people than ever before,” Rasker said. “We’re seeing worse air quality especially during fire season which now lasts longer, and if that wasn’t bad enough, on top of this we’re also seeing increased threats from flooding.”

Impacts on Indian reservations

Director of the Crow Water Quality Project at Little Big Horn College John Doyle, a former Little Big Horn County Commissioner and member of the county’s health board, said the economic impacts of climate change are worth mentioning, especially on reservations.

He said the loss of coal as a revenue source for his community has been financially devastating and the effects of the economic stress on people’s health there is obvious.

Doyle said the pandemic and its effects on communities like this can be a good indicator of where things are going for reservations if climate change is not addressed.

“When you’re in a community that is already completely stressed from no money, no jobs, very deep poverty, and then you throw this into the mix and you can see what climate change will mean to many many people in the future,” he said.” ... if we’re having a hard time now and we know that climate change is going to be worse in the future then it’s going to be difficult for more than just us.”

Another co-author of the report, Mari Eggers, said the economic impacts of climate change are becoming increasingly inseparable from the environmental effects, with organizations like Moody’s taking flood perpetration into account when handing out credit ratings.

Lori Byron said she’s seen first hand what often happens when climate change-fueled disasters like floods strike impoverished areas like reservations and how attention to them only seem to last so long.

She said a flood hit a community only a few years ago, only to have attention fizzle out, while the problems remain.

“It made the national news and there are all these cool pictures of the roads covered with water, but after a couple weeks everything looked normal from the outside, but here on the ground it was not normal,” she said. “There were still families that lost everything they had.”

She said many were still struggling even years later to find proper housing and some had become homeless.

Rob Byron said climate change is often thought of as a threat multiplier, making existing problems worse, creating a cascade effect of socio-economic problems.

Rasker said his organization developed an online tool called Neighborhoods At Risk showing what areas are most vulnerable for people who want to focus resources.

That tool can be found at https://headwaterseconomics.org/tools/neighborhoods-at-risk/tool-about .

He said while quantification of climate change’s effect on local economies can be difficult, it helps to show people, especially people in power, what they need to do.

“We’re working with a community where the cost of doing nothing far exceeds the cost of doing nothing,” he said. “… When you can quantify things like that it can help elected officials make better decisions.”