There’s an ‘Office of Climate Change and Health Equity’?

I had never heard of such a thing. It certainly is so juvenile a title that it had to come from this administration and, sure enough, it popped up this past summer.

In a long, rambling manifesto on environmental and “climate resilience” (vurt da furk?) issues last summer, they announced the establishment of this superfluous and no doubt hugely expensive new layer of bureaucracy.

Prioritizing Health and Safety
Climate and health outcomes are increasingly and inextricably linked. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, climate change is worsening asthma, cardiovascular disease, pest- and water-borne diseases, and other adverse health outcomes and chronic health conditions. President Biden established the first-ever Office of Climate Change and Health Equity in the Department of Health and Human Services to address the impact of climate change on the health of the American people. The Department’s Climate and Health Outlook index provides public data on climate and health projections to inform health professionals and the public.

Okay, whatever. No one was paying attention then and the only reason I heard about it now was because they had the ugly man in a ladies’ uniform talking about it. The open captions caught my eye just as I was about to click away from him (which I normally do as fast as I can) and what he was saying was just so goofy, but so typical of these clowns, I had to read.

Gird your loins. Here it is.

Rachel Levine: “Black Americans are more likely than white Americans to live in areas or housing that increase their susceptibility to climate related health issues.” pic.twitter.com/ZRkYhnOPr5

— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) February 16, 2024

If you got through the first couple of seconds you can see where I’m coming from. Once again, the Biden administration is creating special conditions for a victim class.

“…Climate change is having a disproportionate effect on the physical and mental health of black communities…”

WHUT

Such a blatantly pandering piece of work.

So what are the climate change issues that are worse for blacks than for, say, your average low-income white/Asian/Hispanic person in a different section of the same city? The weather is different in black communities than for, say, the Latinos on the south side of the same town?

I tried to find specific answers about what constituted the problems, first, and then what exact remedies they were proposing which would be different from anyone else who felt climate change was affecting their life.

I came across this page from the ‘Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’ (DId you know we had one of those, too? Well, you do now.). It specifically links back to the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity.

It’s written for a third grader.

Climate Change and Health Equity

Climate change refers to a significant change in the Earth’s climate for an extended period of time. This includes changes in global temperatures and precipitation patterns, which can influence extreme weather and natural disasters. While disaster preparedness cannot prevent the effects of climate change, it can reduce the impact on individuals and communities.

Learn about the HHS Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE), and review their Climate and Health Outlook for how we may be affected in the coming months by climate events.

And then they rattle off droughts, floods, heat waves, etc. as examples of things that have already gotten worse, particularly for “vulnerable” communities. 

It’s just such inane clap-trap.

Certain individuals and communities are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. These populations are often disproportionately affected by, and less resilient to, the health impacts of extreme weather and climate-related disasters. Here are some of the mental and physical consequences:

And boilerplate talking point gibberish. There are no specifics, no solutions, no resources.

In the first paragraph above, where it says “review their ‘Climate and Health Outlook’ page” on the HHS OCCHE site? Holy smokes – it’s nothing more than a glorified weather report for the month ahead! I Schlitz you not!

Here’s the first few entries:

Alaska: Most of Alaska has a modest chance of above-normal temperatures for February. Above-normal precipitation is most likely over parts of southern Alaska, including Anchorage.

Northwest: Most of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington have modest to high probabilities of above-normal temperatures for February. Drought is favored to persist across small portions of Washington, central Oregon, and northern Idaho with improvement and removal in western Oregon.

Intense, no? All I hear is George Carlin in my head…

‘Weather forecast for tonight: dark. Continued dark overnight, with widely scattered light by morning.‘

You notice they simply pop in “low-income families,” “communities of color,” etc. and then attribute stresses to them that are pretty universal in any of these situations. 

We needed another government agency for this?

They do provide a “Quickfinder” page so you can easily scour the Inflation Reduction Act funds available to the OCCHE and HHS to see if you can grift any cha-ching. They’re quite proud of the billions their offices have to squander.

Yay! Cheerleading such earth-shattering moves as:

…The Harvard Business Review , for example, shared how when the Cleveland Clinic switched from fluorescent lights to lower-energy LEDs, they ultimately saved $2.5 million a year with a short 4-year payback on energy costs…

Climate change activist gets arrested while protesting at Biden’s campaign headquarters. The youth are not okay: they think the world is coming to an abrupt end. pic.twitter.com/xoOG942Ylv

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) February 13, 2024

It took this cluster a while to even get funded.

President Biden’s request for $3 million to fund the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity has been approved. With John Balbus as its interim director, the organization will seek to create a climate change strategy and make better use of the resources the federal government already has.

According to Scientific American, Balbus’ former boss laments the small amount of funding. “It is a teeny-weeny budget for what needs to be done,” Birnbaum said.

I hate to burst Birbaum’s bubble, but even “teeny-weeny” is one weeny too much for this tripe.