WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris called climate change an “immediate” and “urgent” crisis Monday as she detailed more than $1 billion in federal spending to respond to disasters such as deadly flooding in Kentucky and wildfires ravaging her home state of California.

On a visit to Miami, Harris announced a series of grants being made available to states to help communities across the nation prepare for and respond to climate-related disasters.

Touring the National Hurricane Center before the grant announcement, Harris said disasters such as the Kentucky floods and California wildfires show “how immediate, how current and how urgent″ it is to address extreme weather being experienced in the United States and around the world.

“Climate change has become a climate crisis, and a threat has now become a reality,″ she said in a speech at Florida International University.

Harris cited deadly floods that have swept through Kentucky and Missouri, “washing away entire neighborhoods,″ leaving at least 35 dead, including children. At least two people were killed in a wildfire in Northern California that was among several fires menacing thousands of homes in the western U.S. Hot and gusty weather and lightning storms threatened to boost the danger that the fires will keep growing.

“The devastation is real. The harm is real. The impact is real,″ Harris said. “And we are witnessing it in real time.″

In 2021, the United States experienced 20 climate-related disasters that each caused over $1 billion in damage, Harris said, citing a report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. There were about six such disasters per year in the 1990s.

“The frequency has accelerated in a relatively short period of time,” Harris said. “The science is clear. Extreme weather will only get worse, and the climate crisis will only accelerate.″

The White House is leading a government-wide response to climate disasters that “recognizes the urgency of this moment and our ability to do something about it,” Harris said, adding that leaders such as herself and President Joe Biden ”have a duty to act, not only after disaster strikes, but before disaster strikes, and that is why we are here today.″

The billion-dollar grant program announced by Harris doubles spending from last year on programs to defend against extreme weather events across the country. Biden announced last month that the administration will double spending yet again in the budget year that begins in October, spending $2.3 billion to help communities cope with soaring temperatures through programs administered by FEMA, the Department of Health and Human Services and other agencies.

The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities, or BRIC, program, supports states, local communities, tribes and territories on projects to reduce climate-related hazards and prepare for natural disasters such as floods and wildfires. The program is funded through FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund and the bipartisan infrastructure law signed by Biden last year.

“Communities across our nation are experiencing first-hand the devastating impacts of the climate change and the related extreme weather events that follow — more energized hurricanes with deadlier storm surges, increased flooding and a wildfire season that’s become a year-long threat,” said FEMA head Deanne Criswell.

A total of $1 billion will be made available through the BRIC program, with another $160 million to be offered for flood mitigation assistance, she said.

Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said his city has elevated 11 miles of roads, installed 46 stormwater public pumps and retrofitted parks to include water-storing cisterns. The South Florida Water Management District in Miami-Dade County received $50 million for flood mitigation and pump station repairs to protect low-lying neighborhoods from sea-level rise and storm surge.

“My city doesn’t debate whether the climate is changing, we simply look at the ground on a sunny day and see flooding,” Gelber said.

Jacksonville, Florida also received money under the BRIC program, winning $23 million for flood mitigation and stormwater infrastructure. Jacksonville, Florida’s largest city, sits in a humid, subtropical region along the St. Johns River and Atlantic Ocean, making it vulnerable to flooding when stormwater basins reach capacity.

Kern County, California received nearly $40 million for underground water storage to allow access to clean water during droughts, while Austin, Texas received money to begin upgrading its power grid “so that homes and businesses and houses of worship can keep on the electricity during summer and winter storms,″ Harris said.

The grant program is among a series of Biden administration actions intended to reduce heat-related illness and protect public health, including a proposed workplace heat standard.

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The United States must rapidly implement an all-encompassing, evidence-informed response to climate change that prioritizes and optimizes health and equity, according to new research released by an international research collaboration of 40 academic institutions, United Nations agencies from every continent, and a diverse group of health experts from over 70 leading U.S. institutions, organizations, and centers. 

The research comprises the fifth U.S. Brief accompanying the annual Report of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change published in the Lancet. 

The U.S. Brief uses country-specific indicator data from the 2021 global Lancet Countdown report, as well as other recent scientific studies, to expose the inequitable health risks of climate change. It also highlights opportunities to improve health through swift action. 

This year, the U.S. Brief examines three interrelated hazards – heatwaves, drought, and wildfires – to highlight the complexities and nuances of climate change. This also addresses how health risks vary, can be unexpectedly broad, and have far-reaching consequences. 

“The data in this report are more than just alarming statistics and trends,” said Dr. Renee N. Salas, a practicing emergency medicine doctor at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, a climate and health expert at the Harvard Global Health Institute and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and lead author of the U.S. Brief. “These numbers represent patients, such as those with worsening asthma attacks, Lyme Disease, or life-threatening illnesses from extreme heat. Acting on climate change is, first and foremost, a way for us to improve health in the U.S. and advance equity.” 

According to Lewis Ziska, PhD, professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, who was a contributor and reviewer of the research: “Climate change effects aren’t just an abstraction, something that will happen years from now.  They are happening today, and they impact every aspect of your health, from the air you breath (more smoke more pollen) to the nutritional quality of the food you eat (less protein).  Yet at present, at the federal level, there is almost no funding for studying the health effects.  We are stumbling along with a candle, when we need a searchlight to see– and to respond—to these threats.”

 Extreme Heat 
•    ●  In 2020, adults over the age of 65 experienced a total of nearly 300 million more days of heatwave exposure in the U.S. compared to the 1986-2005 average baseline, making it the second highest year of exposure recorded since 1986. 
•    ●  Infants under one year experienced a total of nearly 22 million more days of heatwave exposure in 2020 with respect to that same baseline. 
•    ●  Policy failures — such as historic redlining or lack of OSHA regulations — disproportionately expose specific groups (such as people of color, outdoor workers, incarcerated persons, and those living below the poverty line) to extreme heat. 

Wildfires & Smoke 
•    ●  Wildfires in the Western U.S. correlate with hotter temperatures, and the wildfire season has been lengthening. By September 2020, the maximum annual wildfire incidence peaked at approximately 80,000 wildfires, which is 8 times greater than the total incidence in 2001. 
•    ●  There is emerging evidence that wildfire-related fine PM, or PM2.5 from wildfire smoke, may be up to 10 times more harmful to human health than PM2.5 from other sources — with increased respiratory harm for children. 
•    ●  Early evidence also suggests that smoke-related health impacts may be greater farther from the origin of the fire. This could be due, in part, to smoke becoming more toxic over time through a process called oxidation, as well as people not recognizing dangerous air quality and failing to change their behavior. 
•    ●  Furthermore, PM2.5 from climate-intensified wildfire smoke has been shown to increase susceptibility of contracting and dying from COVID-19, possibly by allowing the virus to travel greater distances and cause more lung inflammation. 

Droughts 
● Drought harms health in indirect and under-recognized ways by compounding exposure to heat, increasing respiratory and infectious disease risks, worsening water quality, and exacerbating mental health issues — particularly in rural areas. 

Infectious Disease 
•    ●  The likelihood of dengue spreading through the Aedes aegypti mosquito in the U.S. has steadily increased since the 1950s. 
•    ●  In the past 5 years (2016-2020), the transmission potential was on average 55.6% higher than in baseline years (1950-1954), and briefly rose above the threshold of one for the first time in 2017. (A transmission potential above one means that one case of dengue can cause more than one additional infection, potentially leading to an outbreak in the right conditions.) 

The authors centered public health and equity in developing a series of evidence-informed policy recommendations that would improve health outcomes for marginalized and frontline communities while mitigating the causes of climate change. 

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE UNITED STATES
 
Mitigation 
Urgent and equitable economy-wide GHG emission reductions: Rapidly reduce economy-wide GHG emissions to 57-63% of 2005 levels by 2030, consistent with a 1.5°C national emissions pathway, with at least 40% of investments directed towards improving air quality in under-resourced communities, and a near zero-emission economy by mid-century. 

Economics & Finance 
Incorporate health-related costs of fossil fuels into the social cost of carbon: U.S. calculations must include these health-related costs to accurately analyze the costs and benefits of policies that contribute to the release of carbon dioxide. 

Adaptation 
Rapidly increase funding for health protections: Local, climate-specific health research conducted through multi-sectoral partnerships can directly inform the development, implementation, and evaluation of equitable health-protective actions. 

“Climate change is real and happening now. The good news is that there is a ton that we can do to change the course we are on,” said Cecilia Sorensen, MD, Columbia Mailman School associate professor of environmental health sciences. “The first step is to understand where we are in terms of impacts and our responses – which is the crucial work of the Lancet Countdown. You cannot change what you cannot measure,” according to Sorensen, a contributor to the study findings.

“It is important to keep in mind that not only is climate change already impacting health adversely but also inequitably.  We must recognize that the vulnerable are more severely affected,” said study contributor and reviewer Jeffrey Shaman, PhD, professor of environmental health sciences and director of the climate and health program at Columbia Mailman School, and senior associate dean of faculty affairs at Columbia Climate School.

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