King County is home to approximately 2.3 million people, representing a diversity of communities who reside in urban, rural, shoreline, foothill, and mountain environments; and each with their own unique public health needs. As the County collectively transitions out of an intense, multiyear response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, challenges with racial inequities and environmental health disparities remain. Without dedicated action, climate change will worsen these disparities, with frontline communities facing the greatest impacts.
King County is dedicated to minimizing its impact on climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Although it cannot stop the effects of climate change that are already occurring, it can address the community health disparities that place some communities at greater risk than others, and work to prevent climate-related health impacts by promoting community health and emergency preparedness.
What's at stake
Climate change is already increasing the frequency, duration, and intensity of extreme heat and wildfire smoke events.29 Extreme heat is already the deadliest weather event in the United States, and in June 2021 King County witnessed the impacts of extreme heat firsthand with record breaking temperatures. Since 2021, global temperatures have continued to increase with each subsequent year being recorded as the hottest year on record.30
As temperatures continue to increase,31 so does the risk of wildfires that can significantly impact air quality across hundreds of miles. In 2022, the Bolt Creek Fire in northeast King County burned 15,000 acres. It affected air quality throughout the County and caused Seattle to have some of the worst air quality in the world with the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency urging residents to shelter indoors.
Additionally, at the end of 2022 the effects of king tides coinciding with atmospheric low-pressure systems and heavy rainfall caused lowland flooding throughout areas of the County, submerging the South Park neighborhood in flood waters that displaced residents from their homes. These events provide a preview of the effects climate change is anticipated to have on low lying areas with more frequent and intense rainfall and sea-level inundation.
Without committed action to address existing community health disparities, these climate impacts will continue to disproportionately impact communities who have been historically marginalized and deepen existing health disparities.
A better outcome
King County can be healthy and racially equitable; a place where all people have access to the necessary conditions, information, and resources to prepare for and adapt to the local impacts of climate change. The County is already making headway on these measures through items prescribed in the 2020 SCAP and through the recent adoption of the Public Health–Seattle & King County 2024–2029 Strategic Plan.
What we've done to get here
- Engaged in the co-creation of community educational resources regarding climate change and health hazards, increased access to emergency resources and warnings, and collaborated with community service providers to provide training to prepare communities for emergency events, such as wildfire smoke.
- Launched a climate and health dashboard32 to provide real-time access to community health indicators to monitor and evaluate community health impacts resulting from climate change.
- Distributed thousands of do it yourself box fan filter kits and high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtration units to King County residents, schools, childcare service providers, homeless service providers, and other small businesses.
- Developed emergency guidance and public health recommendations, including action thresholds, for responding during extreme heat and wildfire smoke events.
- Translated and disseminated key messaging to ethnic media outlets to increase the reach and distribution of climate preparedness messaging.