Description
Climate impacts often intersect with exposure to toxics, such as chemical contaminants or particulate matter in the air during wildfire smoke events’ unintended chemical releases into home or waterways during flood events and leaching of contaminants into food or water stored in containers or bottles exposed to extreme heat. King County will assess these risks and develop interventions and policies to address the cumulative impacts worsened by combined exposure to climate and toxics. The results will uplift areas of focus and define gaps in funding, data, interventions, and policies. The County will highlight where climate impacts and toxics intersect and aim to make this information available to its communities to improve their resilience, starting with the communities with the greatest health and climate disparities. Outcomes will include improved trends and disparity mapping, improved prioritization, local approaches to address cumulative impacts, toolkits, communication materials, and interventions (before, during or after a climate event).