The Role of GLISA in Communicating Climate Change and Health Impacts in the Great Lakes Region

The Great Lakes Integrated Sciences and Assessments (GLISA) is a NOAA-funded Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments team housed jointly at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University. GLISA provides relevant climate information to stakeholders in the eight Great Lakes states and the province of Ontario to plan for and adapt to climate variability and change. Increased reports of health impacts, such as heat illness, respiratory and waterborne diseases, can result from increasing temperatures and more frequent heavy precipitation. The health sector is an area where GLISA has provided expertise through several partnerships. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) are examples of partnerships that have integrated climate information from GLISA into their projects.

The presentation will showcase the efforts of GLISA and its partners in terms of the outcomes and challenges of climate science integration in the health sector. The talk will describe the climate information used in these projects (i.e., extreme precipitation, days over 95°F, etc.) and how Great Lakes states can better prepare for the health challenges associated with a changing climate. Through understanding these outcomes and challenges, more strategies can be developed to bridge the gap between climate science and public health.