For decades, scientists have warned that climate change would harm our health, spurring an unprecedented rise in deadly heat, infectious disease and disaster-related trauma. But the U.S. public health system, hampered by underfunding and political resistance at every level of government, is ill-prepared for the climate crisis, as documented in a 16-month investigation by Columbia Journalism Investigations and the Center for Public Integrity called “Hidden Epidemics.”
Americans are suffering the consequences.
Our anchor story, “Climate change is killing Americans. Health departments aren’t equipped to respond,” exposes the fraught history of the federal government’s only sustained effort to bolster state and local health departments’ fight against global warming: the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s climate program. Interviews with more than 100 people and a review of hundreds of pages of government records show the Obama administration, while pushing measures to combat climate change, missed opportunities to expand this program. Under President Donald Trump, officials tried to eliminate it.
Today, its annual $10 million budget funds little more than informational pamphlets and maps in a handful of states. Some CDC-backed programs avoid acknowledging climate change because of local political pressure. Meanwhile, heat waves are worsening and, as revealed in the story, “Climate casualties rising with temperatures,” heat-related deaths are on the rise in many American cities. In Phoenix, at least 900 such deaths since 1980 can be attributed primarily to warming temperatures, according to a unique model designed by a Columbia University epidemiologist and a CJI reporter.
In “Disasters are driving a mental health crisis,” we detail the tepid federal response to the mounting mental toll of hurricanes, floods and wildfires, which falls hardest on marginalized communities of color and impoverished Americans.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration run the country’s primary aid for disaster mental health. Every year, FEMA spends an average of $24 million – 1% of its total relief fund – to send mental-health workers into disaster-stricken communities. But this help is limited: It lasts about a year, though the psychological effects can linger for many more, and reaches only a fraction of survivors. After Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, 18% of the island received counseling. In Houston, where Hurricane Harvey’s flooding was widespread, less than 1% of residents did, according to previously undisclosed data we obtained.
With the help of mental health and disaster experts and local newsrooms across the country, we developed a questionnaire on the mental health consequences of hurricanes, floods and wildfires, and heard from nearly 200 survivors. We and our partner newsrooms shared their stories in a series of localized pieces set in California, South Carolina, Iowa, Puerto Rico and Washington state, most incorporating elements of our national story.
In “Deadly bacteria lurk in coastal waters. Climate change increases the risks,” we uncovered state and local officials’ lax approach to preventing vibriosis, a flesh-eating disease caused by the bacteria Vibrio. Scientists call Vibrio a bellwether for climate change because it flourishes in warm, coastal waters. As the overheating planet alters the oceans, the once-rare bacteria are multiplying in places where they already thrived and creeping into places where they never did.
With climate and health data, we showed that Vibrio infections in the Chesapeake Bay region – a new hotspot – have increased almost two-fold from 2007 to 2019 amid higher water temperatures. A similar story is playing out all along the East Coast. Yet health departments have done little to warn the public or raise awareness among doctors who must recognize symptoms quickly to stop severe illness and avert death. Some officials refuse to acknowledge the connection between climate change and Vibrio, hampering their ability to protect residents from a growing climate-related risk.
COVID-19 wasn’t spurred by global warming. But scientists fear future epidemics might be. This investigation lays bare the already-present health hazards of climate change, the indefensible lack of preparation and response by government officials, and the life-changing – sometimes life-ending – consequences for Americans.