Climate Change, Public Health, and the Law

Advance praise: 'Climate Change, Public Health, and the Law makes a unique and timely contribution. Policy, law and regulation concerning climate change must be informed by scientific insights into public health impacts. This collection from leading scholars offers broad, thorough coverage of key topics to help translate this scientific information into much needed action.' Michael B. Gerrard, Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice, Columbia Law School Advance praise: 'Climate Change, Public Health and the Law is a clear and clarifying treatise. It enumerates how legal standards to date have framed the right to health, and how they will have to change to protect public health in a changing climate. Its chapters on a range of health-, climate- and law-related topics also illuminate current legal thinking and identify the many challenges with which governments must grapple as they pursue effective regulation and accountability for the public health impacts of climate change. A must read for lawyers, scientists and public health practitioners working on these critical issues.' Jeffrey Shaman, Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Health Sciences; Director, Climate and Health Program, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Advance praise: 'Impact on human health is the most significant measure of the harm done by climate change, and health can be a positive driving force for the climate agenda and a means to engage the public in finding solutions. Indeed, policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions have the potential to improve public health substantially, reducing the global burden of a number of diseases, including heart disease, cancer, obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, mental illness, lung disease and road deaths and injuries. What is good for the environment is often also good for health. Yet, the integration of public health considerations into responses to climate change is very poor. The World Health Organization welcomes Climate Change, Public Health, and the Law, and believes it can serve as the basis for future collaboration and dialogue between the public health, the climate change and the law communities for the promotion of climate legislation that puts public health outcomes at the center of law and regulations.' Maria Neira, Director, World Health Organization, Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health Advance praise: 'Climate change requires a fundamental rethinking of much that we take for granted - the ways we produce and consume food, build buildings, travel, harness energy - as well as of the public health strategies, policies, laws, and practices we have long relied on. The authors offer clear assessments of how traditional practices will perform in coming decades but also propose innovative solutions that span scales, timeframes, and disciplinary boundaries. This book will be the standard source on the intersection of climate change, public health, and law.' Howard Frumkin Howard Frumkin, University of Washington School of Public Health Advance praise: 'Rains, wildfires, floods, and hurricanes of biblical proportion hit the US in 2017 and 2018, proof that climate change's future is now. The first comprehensive book of its kind, Climate Change, Public Health, and the Law couldn't be more timely or more important. Its chapters address virtually every important question we face as we confront rising temperatures and the consequences of heat waves, storm surges, increases in communicable diseases, changes in food production and waves of migrants seeking refuge from climate-related disasters.' Ann Carlson, Shirley Shapiro Professor of Environmental Law, University of California, Los Angeles and Faculty Co-Director, Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment