Health & Climate Change

What it is: Introducing health as a factor in climate change-related legislation and initiatives.  Climate change is a global and long-term threat to the public's health.  We need to promote effective policies to address climate change, but in our approach to reduce climate change, we also need to consider health in the process, so that we can design policies that promote more physical activity, help us breathe cleaner air and reduce car collisions while we fight global warming. Upstream is working to fight climate change through promoting alternatives to driving, integrating health into transportation and land use planning processes in Oregon, and promoting the use of Health Impact Assessments to examine how policies improve or diminish our health.

Why it’s Upstream: The ways our transportation system and communities are designed don’t just affect the environment—they also directly impact how active people are and how much pollution is in the air, which, in turn, impact a wide range of health conditions. By creating a transportation system and urban designs that reduce our dependence on automobiles and increase our use of public transit, walking, and biking, we will reduce toxins in the air and increase our physical activity.

What we’re doing: Upstream is currently disseminating our Health Impact Assessment about policies to reduce driving to legislators and policy makers throughout the state, and advocating for health to be considered in all transportation and land use planning processes. . We are also joining the early discussions in Eugene about its Climate Action Plan to make sure people’s health is taken into consideration as it’s developed.