West LA Times

Whether it’s roads still paved in heat-radiating black asphalt instead of cool pavement or a city budget decision to cancel a prescribed burn that could have halted the currently raging Park Fire, solutions to address climate change exist. However, decision-makers need to understand the options and choose the right ones, says UCLA public health professor Michael Jerrett.

In a new paper analyzing the most severe climate-driven public health risks in California, Jerrett and his colleagues offer dozens of adaptations addressing challenges such as wildfires, extreme heat, and extreme precipitation. Jerrett, the lead author of the paper, states:

“Increasing greenery and adding cool pavement will reduce heat in cities. Prescribed burns can reduce wildfires and result in fewer deaths from smoke. Solar, wind and geothermal energy are zero-emission and less expensive than generating electricity with fossil fuels. We have solutions that we already know will work. We just have to make sure people in decision-making positions choose them.”

Jerrett highlights the human cost of inadequate adaptation measures: “We found that wildfire smoke killed 52,000 people in California over a decade. The Park Fire has burned more than 600 buildings and is now the fourth-largest fire in California history, yet such a trifling amount is invested in prescribed burns. We need policymakers to understand the numbers behind the tradeoffs so that the city of Chico isn’t left without the $10,000 it needs for the prescribed burn that could have stopped the Park Fire.”

He further emphasizes multi-faceted benefits: “The great thing is that so many of these solutions help with multiple problems and have several co-benefits for public health. For instance, increasing greenery cools urban heat islands but also helps with urban runoff to decrease flooding while simultaneously increasing local longevity and improving mental health, especially in disadvantaged communities.”

“As we redesign cities to adapt to climate change,” Jerrett adds, “it gives us a chance to address equity and justice considerations that have been overlooked too long.”

The public health paper is one of ten offering hope, adaptations, and solutions featured in this week’s special issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences focused on California sustainability and climate change. Jerrett is a professor in environmental health sciences at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health with expertise in environmental health effects of wildfire smoke and transportation-related pollution.

Media are encouraged to quote from Jerrett’s comments or schedule an interview with him and his UCLA co-authors. Commentary from other UCLA climate experts is also available upon request.

For more on the wildfire situation in western North America and global record heat in July 2024, join a live Q&A with UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain on Aug. 8 at 3 p.m. PT.