Published on August 11, 2021
An interdisciplinary group of University of Washington researchers has teamed with Front and Centered to create an innovative Collaboratory to promote just and equitable climate action.
The Collaboratory aims to respond to climate change impacts with attention to equitable mitigation and adaptation solutions. It will feature three linked platforms to achieve this goal through a community-informed and multidisciplinary approach.
Leading this effort is Jeremy J. Hess, professor of Emergency Medicine, Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, and Global Health at the UW. Hess also serves as the director of the UW Center for Health and the Global Environment (CHanGE).
“I feel it is very important to highlight the health benefits of activities that reduce the likelihood of dangerous climate change,” Hess said. “If you incorporate those benefits into an analysis of the costs and benefits of mitigation, it demonstrates that these actions are often very good for people’s health and prevent downstream climate impacts.”
In addition to promoting climate action, the Collaboratory project operates to understand how climate change exacerbates existing inequities and address this issue.
“The communities that are already overburdened from pollution don’t necessarily reap the benefits of climate action in the same way,” Hess said. “You have to be very intentional about tracking the issue, assessing it and designing policies to make sure that the benefits are equitably distributed. We don’t have a lot of mechanisms for doing that, so that was the motivation for our project.”
The Collaboratory will be established between the UW and Front and Centered (F&C), the largest coalition of communities of color-led environmental justice organizations in the Pacific Northwest. The coalition is committed to equity and environmental and climate justice, making it a well-suited partner for this project.
“We are excited to deepen our relationship with Dr. Hess and the Center for Health and the Global Environment and the project team to promote just and equitable climate action in Washington State,” said Esther Min, environmental health lead at F&C and research consultant at the UW Department of Environmental & Occupation Health Sciences.
Working alongside Hess and Min is an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the UW and F&C.
Collaborators include Jason Vogel of the UW Climate Impacts Group (CIG); Julian Marshall and Bujin Bekbulat of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering; Sara Curran of the UW Center for Studies in Demography & Ecology, the Jackson School of International Studies and Department of Sociology; Kristie Ebi of the Departments of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences and Global Health; Nicole Errett of the Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences; Andrew Dannenberg of the Departments of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences and Urban Design & Planning; Tania Busch Isaksen of the Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences; Deric Gruen and Aurora Martin of Front and Centered; and Tim Sheehan of the Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences.
Continue reading at UW Population Health.
Originally written for UW Population Health.