San Francisco Public Press (https://www.sfpublicpress.org/author/ambika-kandasamy/)
极端天气事件近年来造成许多严重破坏和人员伤亡。 2022年，欧洲热浪及南亚、西非和中非的洪水导致数千人死亡；2023年，夏威夷茂宜岛发生的野火是美国有史以来死亡人数最多的火灾之一，夺走了100条人命；加拿大野火造成成千上万人流离失所，迫使美国对超过1亿2000万居民发布空气品质警报。
尽管全人类都受到自然灾害的影响，但美国环保署警告，因为既有疾病、免疫力低下、行动不便和其他健康问题，包括老年人在内的部分人口面对的风险比其他人要高。
極端天氣事件近年來造成許多嚴重破壞和人員傷亡。2022年，歐洲熱浪及南亞、西非和中非的洪水導致數千人死亡；2023年，夏威夷茂宜島發生的野火是美國有史以來死亡人數最多的火災之一，奪走了100條人命；加拿大野火造成成千上萬人流離失所，迫使美國對超過1億2000萬居民發佈空氣品質警報。
儘管全人類都受到自然災害的影響，但美國環保署警告，因為既有疾病、免疫力低下、行動不便和其他健康問題，包括老年人在內的部分人口面對的風險比其他人要高。
Community organizations say the systems in Chinatown to protect older populations during extreme weather are not enough to meet the needs that could arise. Without sufficient financial backing, the health of many older residents in the neighborhood could be threatened during extreme weather disasters. Similar scenarios could transpire in San Francisco’s other climate-vulnerable areas.
Chinatown faces higher threats during periods of extreme weather due to a range of socio-economic factors as well as the built environment. Within the neighborhood, older adults living in single-room occupancy buildings are among the populations at heightened risk. Reasons for this include physiological changes related to aging and financial barriers associated with making climate-resiliency adaptations to older buildings.
As climate change exacerbates droughts, wildfires, floods, storms and other catastrophes, community organizations in the city are racing to put systems in place to both measure its impacts on residents and to provide the tools they need to support themselves during disasters.
Mental health experts based in the San Francisco Bay Area are exploring the ensuing physical, mental and emotional effects of climate change, particularly on the lives of older adults.
Dr. Andrew Chang, an attending physician specializing in cardiology at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System and postdoctoral research fellow at the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, is investigating how the biological mechanisms of aging and a warming world will affect the health of older adults.
For four years oil companies, airlines and ground transportation industry groups have petitioned California for exemptions from the state’s cap-and-trade greenhouse gas market, saying consumers would take the hit through higher prices at the pump and in stores. And in court they are still arguing that the state lacks the regulatory authority to compel participation. To a degree, they have succeeded. This story is part of a special report on climate change in the summer print edition of the San Francisco Public Press.
California’s effort to ensure that the state receives low carbon electricity could end up increasing greenhouse gas emissions elsewhere in the country, thanks to a practice known as contract reshuffling.Importing low-carbon electricity from out-of-state suppliers of renewable sources such as solar, wind, geothermal and hydropower is one way California’s electric utilities can decrease their carbon emissions.
This story is part of a special report on climate change in the Summer print edition of the San Francisco Public Press.
Sequestration isn’t just some Washington abstraction. It’s hitting home. The automatic federal budget cuts that rolled out on Friday — known as the sequester — are going to hurt the University of California, San Francisco. The world-class teaching hospital and research center receives funding from the National Institutes of Health. According to KQED’s “California Report,” the university’s vice chancellor for research, Keith Yamamoto, said that some laboratories have already instituted hiring freezes.
