Green New Deal for Health Act
A BILL
To establish a Green New Deal for Health to prepare and empower the health care sector to protect the health and well-being of our workers, our communities, and our planet in the face of the climate crisis, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Definitions
In this Act:
Environmental justice community— The term environmental justice community means a community with significant representation of communities of color, low-income communities, or Tribal and Indigenous communities that experiences, or is at risk of experiencing, higher or more adverse human health or environmental effects.
Individual disproportionately affected by climate change— The term individual disproportionately affected by climate change means an individual that may face elevated mental and physical health risks due to climate change based on 2 or more of the following factors:
Age under 5 years old or over 65 years old.
Race and ethnicity, and experience of racial bias.
Sex, gender, and gender minority status.
Being of reproductive age.
Exposure to environmental health risks due to living conditions or location, including current or past experience of homelessness.
Occupation or exposure to occupational hazards.
Household income.
Disability.
Co-morbidities.
Current or past exposure to personal or systemic trauma, including natural disasters.
Immigration status.
Language isolation.
Medically underserved community— The term medically underserved community has the meaning given such term in section 799B of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 295p).
Sec. 3 Findings and sense of Congress on health and climate change
Findings— Congress finds that, according to the assessment of the United States Global Change Research Program entitled “The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment” and dated 2016—
the impacts of human-induced climate change are increasing nationwide;
rising greenhouse gas concentrations result in increases in temperature, changes in precipitation, increases in the frequency and intensity of some extreme weather events, and rising sea levels;
the climate change impacts described in paragraph (2) endanger our health by affecting—
our access to care, food, and water sources;
the air we breathe;
the weather we experience; and
our interactions with the built and natural environments; and
as the climate continues to change, the risks to human health continue to grow.
Sense of Congress— It is the sense of Congress that—
climate change poses threats to the United States and globally through its impacts on society, the economy, the physical environment, and physical and mental health;
climate change health threats are growing in scale and severity;
climate change disproportionately affects individuals in the United States who are economically disadvantaged, belong to communities of color, or have other social and health vulnerabilities;
the health care sector accounts for 8.5 percent of United States emissions, further worsening the overall health impacts of climate change; and
the Federal Government, working with international, State, Tribal, and local governments, nongovernmental organizations, businesses, and individuals, should use all practicable means and measures—
to deploy a whole-of-government and whole-of-health approach to protect our collective health from the impacts of climate change and to mitigate environmental health impacts from health sector operations;
to build a just health care ecosystem where all Americans have access to dignified, high-quality care in their communities;
to ensure the health care system is resilient to extreme weather and can continue to provide care before, during, and after crises;
to lead the health sector to decarbonize its facilities and operations in an equitable and just manner;
to empower a thriving health workforce with good, high-wage union jobs and to recognize the value of all of the essential workers that enable high-quality health care; and
to invest in, empower, and build safe, strong, and resilient communities.