Climate, Vulnerability and Health

This contributed volume explores the intersection between climate change, vulnerable communities, and health. It includes a variety of case studies that highlight how changing physical and social environments impact the health of communities across geographies. The COVID-19 Pandemic and climate change together highlighted how social disparities and environmental inequalities in our society affect the health and well-being of people and places impacted by modern crises. This new volume, which appears in the book series Extreme Weather and Society, addresses the plight of socially vulnerable people and communities dealing with extreme weather and other latent and emerging risks.

This book is meant for people who have an interest in climate change, extreme weather, and their impact on people and places around the world. Special focus is placed on the knowledge of local populations and the imperative to engage with people within the context their local culture, ethnicity, and geographies. The book is interdisciplinary and crosses the fields of geography, environmental studies, environmental science, climate science, environmental health, emergency management, environmental sociology, social work and public health among others.  The book will appeal to anyone who studies, makes, or carries out social and environmental policy—especially to community leaders who must respond to health and environmental challenges within the context of social disparities.

Dr. Sheila Lakshmi Steinberg is Director of the Institute for Sustainability and Full Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies at California State University Northridge. The theme throughout her research is people, place, culture and space across geographies. Dr. Steinberg’s research interests include environment, sustainability, community, research methods, environmental and social justice, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and policy. She developed an interested in weather, climate and society from living in so many different parts of the United States, including the West Coast, the East Coast and the mid-west. Recently she co-edited a book entitled, Resilient Communities Across Geographies for Esri Press (2021). Additionally, she co-edited Extreme Weather, Health and Communities: Interdisciplinary Engagement Strategies for Springer Press (2016). She is also the co-author of GIS for the Social Sciences: Investigating Space and Place (2006) for Sage Publications and GIS Research Methods: Incorporating Spatial Perspectives for Esri Press (2015). Steinberg is a keynote speaker at professional conferences and meetings having served as a panelist at the Esri UC Science Symposium and invited  GIS Day speaker for The University of Miami (2022), the City University of New York-College of Staten Island (2021) and Kansas State University (2017). In 2016 she was invited as the keynote speaker at the European Sociological Association (ESA) Qualitative Methods Research Network Conference in Krakow, Poland spoke on GIS for community engagement & empowerment. Her research focuses on the connection between people, places and environments considering local knowledge, networks and the power of culture and community engagement to generate policy.

Professor Emeritus, William A. Sprigg  [Yale University (M.Phil., Ph.D.), Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey (M.S.), Florida State University (B.S.) and U.S. Army Signal School (MOS)] is the Principal for Science Policy Consultants, LLC, Marana, Arizona. He is the architect of the U.S. National Climate Program (1978) and led the U.S. delegation (1990) for IPCC Working Group II (Impacts Assessment). He led the U.S. Congress-mandated Climate Assessment for the Southwestern U.S. (2000). He has held research and science policy positions in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. National Research Council, the California Public Health Institute, and in other nations’ atmosphere, climate and air quality programs. He formed Science Policy Consultants, LLC, in 2016 to assess and advise on states of science that affect client profit, progress and standing in the global community.  Dr. Sprigg co-founded the Dust Alliance for North America and is a current member of its Executive Committee and chair of its Science Steering Committee. He is founding director (2010-2017) of the Pan America Center for the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) Sand and Dust Storm Warning Advisory System. Professor Sprigg co-edited Extreme Weather, Health and Communities: Interdisciplinary Engagement Strategies for Springer Press (2016) and is Series Editor, Extreme Weather & Society, for Springer International Publishing, Switzerland. He served previously on the Encyclopedia Britannica’s Editorial Board (1999-2001), and on the Voice of America’s Cinetel Infectious Disease Media Project Board of Directors (1997-1999).