July 29, 2024 – Students from the U.S. and beyond took a deep dive into issues of climate change, equity, and public health at an annual weeklong summit at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The Harvard Chan C-CHANGE Youth Summit—held July 20-27, drew 67 students from 19 U.S. states and five countries, including China, Greece, Taiwan, Uganda, and the United Kingdom. It was hosted by the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment (Harvard Chan C-CHANGE) and Putney Pre-College.
Over the course of the week, students attended seminars and workshops featuring a wide variety of experts, including scientists, health practitioners, policymakers, youth activists, climate creatives, and clean energy innovators. Students also had a chance to have fun, participating in activities such as a barbecue, kayaking, and exploring Boston.
The goal of the event was for the students to take away practical lessons in a range of areas—such as climate communications, environmental justice, and policy and advocacy—and use what they learn to tackle climate change issues in their own communities and beyond.
The event featured a host of experts from Harvard Chan School, including Barrak Alahmad, research fellow in the Exposure, Epidemiology, and Risk Program in the Department of Environmental Health, who gave a talk about the future of work amid climate change-driven extreme heat; Nicholas Arisco, postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Global Health and Population, who spoke on the connections between climate, deforestation, and infectious disease; and Caleb Dresser, director of health care solutions at C-CHANGE, who talked about building a climate-ready health care system.
Other Harvard Chan speakers included Gaurab Basu, director of education and policy at C-CHANGE; Howard Koh, Harvey V. Fineberg Professor of the Practice of Public Health Leadership; Kari Nadeau, John Rock Professor of Climate and Population Studies, chair of the Department of Environmental Health, and interim director of C-CHANGE; John Quackenbush, Henry Pickering Walcott Professor of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics and chair of the Department of Biostatistics; and K. “Vish” Viswanath, Lee Kum Kee Professor of Health Communication.
Photos: Kent Dayton, Ella Neiderhelman
