skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Personal Health, Medical Costs Tied to Climate-Change Discussion

play audio
Play

Tuesday, June 29, 2021   

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- Climate change might conjure up images of wildfires or dried up rivers out West, but an Iowa doctor is joining her counterparts around the world to say policymakers need to also account for the effects on a person's health and their need for medical care.

Congress and the Biden administration are trying to finalize an infrastructure plan, which could include some clean-energy components, but not as far-reaching as the president's original proposal.

Dr. Suzanne Bartlett Hackenmiller, an OB-GYN and integrative medicine physician based in Cedar Falls, hopes a full range of ideas is adopted.

She said in states like Iowa, agriculture and flooding aren't a good mix for long-term health.

"When we have flooding, chemicals have run off into the water that we then consume, and all of it is just a never-ending cycle that we are very much a part of," Bartlett Hackenmiller explained.

She added smog and smoke from other states can make their way to Iowa, harming anyone dealing with asthma, allergies and heart disease.

The pending infrastructure agreement leaves out many of the climate-mitigation strategies pushed by the Biden administration, prompting criticism from some Democrats. The White House hopes to advance a follow-up bill through budget reconciliation rules in the Senate.

Bartlett Hackenmiller thinks it's important that both efforts happen quickly, because community health needs immediate protections from the effects of climate change, especially for people in underserved areas.

She noted both state and federal budgets could feel less pressure if people are healthier.

"I firmly believe, as an integrative-medicine doctor, that anything that we can do to prevent illness is money that's very, very well spent," Bartlett Hackenmiller contended.

For example, studies have linked the creation of more open spaces in populated areas to a rise in physical activity among the people who live there.

Bartlett Hackenmiller said that reduces chronic illness and the need for care. Last year, more than 4,000 U.S. health-care professionals signed a letter urging leaders to take comprehensive action.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021