As parts of Oregon are under a heat advisory and multiple wildfires burn across the state, a report out Friday highlights the connection between climate change and health, finding some communities are continuing to bear the brunt from extreme weather events more than others.
But an increase in climate action and resiliency programs can help provide more relief to those communities, the report says.
The Oregon Health Authority’s Climate and Health in Oregon report examines how climate change impacted residents’ health in 2023. It found that some Oregonians, particularly low-income people and members of communities of color and rural communities, are more significantly affected by extreme weather like heat waves, drought and wildfires.
FILE: An undated image shared on July 14, 2024, by the Gilliam County Sheriff’s Office shows crews working to stop the Lone Rock Fire, burning in north-central Oregon. A report on climate change and health was issued Friday by the Oregon Health Authority, on a day when unseasonably early wildfires filled skies with smoke and forecasters issued heat advisories.
Courtesy of Gilliam County Sheriff’s Office
The report calls on the state to continue to prioritize recently adopted climate action programs and legislation that focus on community resiliency, energy efficiency retrofits and green infrastructure for vulnerable Oregonians.
And it found there is still hope for these communities to adapt to climate change.
The study says climate change-driven extreme weather events are guiding state, city and tribal leaders on what investments are needed to be better prepared.
“The Climate and Health in Oregon report reflects the fact that extreme climate effects are our past, present and future, and we need to accept this reality by better understanding these events and helping communities mitigate the health risks associated with them,” OHA’s interim public health division director Cara Biddlecom said in a statement.
Oregon’s understanding of the connections between climate change and health is growing, but the report said more work is needed to help all communities across the state better adapt to the changing climate. The burning of fossil fuels is contributing to human-caused climate change that has resulted in more extreme weather events like heat waves, wildfires and drought.
FILE: A festival-goer cools down at a free water and misting station at the Waterfront Blues Festival in Portland, Ore., July 6, 2024. Hot weather led to hospitalizations in Oregon last year, a report on climate change and health has found.
Anna Lueck / OPB
OHA’s environmental health manager Gabriela Goldfarb said the report focused on three main areas.
“Where did we see health hazards that were driven by climate change and who is most at risk or impacted?” she said. “Second, what actions are we seeing across Oregon in the public health system and beyond to protect families from these risks and then third, what are we seeing on the horizon for climate and health in Oregon?”
Goldfarb said 2023 was a mild year in terms of extreme weather-related health risks, but the agency still saw some impacts.
“Last summer, people in areas of the state that are less accustomed to hot weather were arriving at emergency departments with heat-related illness concerns at greater than expected levels,” she said. “That started even when temperatures were only in the 80s.”
Last year, nearly 1.7 million Oregonians living in 12 counties, mostly rural, experienced 14 or more days above 80 degrees at the same time as wildfires led to moderate air quality, according to the study. Climate change is also affecting overnight temperatures. Warmer nights that do not drop below 65 degrees hinder the ability to cool off or find relief for people who don’t have air conditioners or cooling devices.
FILE: Transition Projects team members Bess Turner, left, and outreach supervisor Tara Slak pull a cart full of water, electrolyte packs and cooling rags to distribute in downtown Portland, July 5, 2024. Transition Projects serves people experiencing homelessness, who are some of the most vulnerable to extreme weather.
Anna Lueck / OPB
“We saw, generally statewide, certain communities of color coming into emergency departments for the respiratory concerns at double or nearly double the rate of state residents overall,” she said.
Heat-related deaths have also increased.
Prior to 2021, Oregon did not see more than four heat related deaths per year. Since then, there have been more than 100, with cardiovascular disease contributing to 25% of those deaths. People 50 years and older accounted for 87% of heat-related deaths between 2021 through 2023.
The Climate and Health in Oregon study also found communities hit hardest from the 2020 Labor Day fires and the 2021 heat dome are still recovering.
Climate change is also affecting mental health. In 2022, OHA released a study on Climate Change and Youth Mental Health in Oregon, which highlighted how extreme weather events are creating fear, frustration, and hopelessness among young people.
More climate action and resiliency programs
Despite its focus on the challenges Oregon faces, the study also identified bright spots.
The state is developing programs and providing rebates that help the most vulnerable Oregonians adapt to the changing climate, Goldfarb said.
Cities like Portland have created programs that help low income and people of color get free portable AC units installed in their homes. The state also passed legislation that created a goal of installing 500,000 heat pumps across Oregon by 2030.
Earlier this month, OHA announced it has delivered 412 air conditioners as a result of Senate Bill 1536.
FILE: A window air conditioning unit. Programs that expand access to air conditioning and heat pumps, especially for more vulnerable Oregonians, are a source of hope at a time when the climate is changing.
Courtney Sherwood / OPB
Those kinds of electrification programs not only improve overall health, they also reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Goldfarb said.
But although the state and other organizations are working on getting cooling devices in vulnerable Oregonians’ homes, the rise in energy rates affects when people use these devices.
Joel Iboa, executive director of Oregon Just Transition Alliance, said low-income people and people of color have long felt the impacts of climate change and shouldn’t have to choose between the higher utility costs that come with using their cooling devices to find relief from extreme heat or having enough money to feed their families.
Iboa pointed to the state’s Climate Protection Program, presently on hold, which would reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuel companies in Oregon. The program would also create a community climate investment program that could fund projects like adding more renewable energy to the power grid and retrofitting homes for people most impacted by climate change that could help lower energy bills.
The program is currently undergoing a second rule-making process after the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled the program invalid.
“Oregon’s Climate Protection Program aims to subdue extreme weather events by reducing emissions from big polluters, and we need strong support for it because fossil fuel companies shouldn’t decide our health outcomes or future,” Iboa said
Moving forward: A focus on water
In 2024, Goldfarb said, the Oregon Health Authority will focus on water insecurity in relation to ongoing drought as concerns over water supply and groundwater contamination continue to grow.
Overall, she said, climate change isn’t going anywhere.
FILE: A 2010 photo of drought-parched farmland in the Klamath Basin. The effects of climate change on water insecurity, groundwater and drought will be an area of focus for the Oregon Health Authority.
JEFF BARNARD / AP
“We have to find every tool possible to build climate resilience,” she said.
Climate affects people in a serious way, she said, and it will get worse. But she said the agency is seeing more opportunities for people to protect their families and adapt to climate change.
“That’s the encouraging thing that there are actions that we can take and a lot of those actions also reduce the source of the problem, which is greenhouse gasses,” she said.
The report was completed in response to former Gov. Kate Brown’s executive order 20-04, which directed state agencies to act and regulate greenhouse gas emissions and study the harmful effects of climate change.