Exploring Perceptions on Climate Change Through the American Climate Metrics Survey, 2016-2019.

This article compares perceptions of climate change between the U.S. public and National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) members collected from the annual American Climate Metrics Survey from 2016 to 2019. We analyzed the similarities, differences, and changes over 4 years regarding climate change beliefs and concerns, harms, benefits and costs of action, and solutions. While both groups had similar climate change concerns, NEHA members were significantly more likely than the public to recognize the harmful impact of climate change on health, prioritize climate action over economic growth, and act on climate solutions. NEHA members were also less likely to agree that the costs of acting on climate change are too high. We recommend that NEHA continue supporting the environmental public health workforce through education and training, facilitating cross-sectoral engagement between local partners and community members, and encouraging participation in programs such as NEHA's Climate Health and Adaptation Mitigation Partnership (CHAMP) program and ecoAmerica's Climate for Health Ambassador Training. Developing resources to help communities understand climate health threats and implement climate solutions is important for NEHA to support due to limited resources available for local environmental public health. Through continued partnerships and collaborations--such as our work with ecoAmerica and our engagement with the National Center for Environmental Health within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention--NEHA will continue to build the capability and capacity of the workforce so they can be leaders in their jurisdiction's local climate and health conversation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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