U.S. govt takes action to reduce health impacts of climate change

The U.S. government on Tuesday announced a series of executive actions aimed at reducing the health impacts of climate change.

A warming planet, caused by human emissions of greenhouse gases, can lead to more smog, longer allergy seasons, and an increased incidence of extreme-weather-related injuries, the White House said, noting that children, the elderly, the sick, the poor, and minorities are especially vulnerable.

"The sooner we act, the more we can do to protect the health of our communities, our kids, and those that are the most vulnerable, " said a statement from the White House.

The actions announced included two climate change and health workshops this week and a White House summit on this issue later this spring.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will release a report on adaptation actions in some U.S. cities and states while the interagency U.S. Global Change Research Program will release a draft Climate and Health Assessment report.

The administration is also expanding its Climate Data Initiative, which it launched last year, to include more than 150 health-relevant datasets. It also announced that a coalition of deans from 30 medical, public health and nursing schools are committing to train their students to address the health impacts of climate change.

There are also commitments from U.S. companies. For example, Google pledged to donate 10 million hours of high-performance computing, which will enable scientists to work to eliminate global infectious diseases and to visualize global fires and oil and gas flares over time.

Microsoft will develop drones that can collect mosquitoes autonomously and then conduct gene-sequencing and pathogen detection to serve as an early warning system for vector borne disease outbreaks.

Last week, the White House submitted its new climate change plan to the United Nations, in which it pledged to reduce carbon emissions by up to 28 percent below 2005 levels in the next decade. Endite