With the recent ruling from the Supreme Court regarding the Clean Air Act, it is more of an imperative than ever that we act now.
Action this year remains possible. We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to protect and promote health by encouraging policymakers to invest in climate action and clean energy. Join us in calling on your elected officials to seize this critical moment for climate action.
In response to last Thursday’s decision in West Virginia v. EPA, the Medical Society Consortium on Climate & Health, the coalition of 44 national medical societies representing more than seventy percent of all U.S. doctors issued the following statement.
“Last Thursday’s decision is an effective reversal of the 50-year-old Clean Air Act and it ignores past Supreme Court cases that affirmed the shared value that every person deserves to breathe clean air. The Supreme Court has delivered a blow to a proven tool we, as doctors and citizens, rely on to protect the health of our patients and communities. This decision seriously undercuts the work of our government to ensure that we have safe air to breathe, and a stable climate to anchor our lives.
“Climate change is a health emergency today in many communities and will be a health crisis tomorrow for even more people around the country and the world. The wide-ranging and dangerous health impacts will continue to worsen without widespread action to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. The thing that gives doctors and health care workers hope is solutions like the EPA’s ability to protect us from harmful pollutants, because this helps us protect and improve health through cleaner air and address climate change in the long run. Research has shown that the health benefits of the Clean Air Act are enormous. For every dollar spent on the Clean Air Act, we’ve saved $30 dollars in health costs.
Call on your elected officials to seize this critical moment for climate action here.
Bruce Southers, SCPM, M.B.A., B.A. (Psychology), is a former drug/alcohol counselor now working in the financial services industry. He has experience leading and working with non-profit organizations and now volunteers with Mended Little Hearts and Donate Life, and launching Rural Africa Outreach, a non-profit/NGO focused on assisting people in rural Africa. Bruce has had a lifelong interest in Humanistic Psychology and lives in Kentucky with his wife and two children.
