Lessons from Mayors: Advancing Climate Action

“Everything, to me, connects to public health.” Mayor Brandon Scott, Baltimore

On April 17th, the Community Data Health Initiative (CDHI) held a session at the 11th annual African American Mayors Association (AAMA) conference in Washington, DC. Titled Mayors Leading the Way: Advancing Climate Action for Healthier Cities, this panel featured Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, and Memphis Mayor Paul Young. Hosted by Director of Data-Smart City Solutions Stephen Goldsmith and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) Fellow at AAMA Stacie Fujii, this session served to showcase how each mayor is responding to environmental harms: air pollution in Cleveland, extreme heat in Baltimore, and lead exposure in Memphis. 

Of course, these issues are overlapping and interconnected; for example, extreme heat worsens air quality. Each mayor discussed the importance of addressing any environmental harm in an equitable, public health-focused manner. They also emphasized the importance of integrating public health and environmental work into existing local priorities, rather than viewing them as distinct or even competing.

This article provides highlights and actionable insights from the conversation between Mayor Young, Mayor Scott, and Fujii, serving as a companion to our Data-Smart City Pod episode from the discussion between host Goldsmith and Mayor Bibb.

Use a Public Health Lens: Both Mayors emphasized that environmental issues should be framed as public health issues as well. For example, Mayor Young pointed out that there are well-documented behavioral health impacts due to lead exposure, a connection that doesn’t always get drawn when looking at causes of behavioral issues or discussing rates of violence. Yet research shows that “excess risk for criminal behavior in adulthood exists when an individual is exposed to lead in utero or in the early years of childhood,” making the case for crime reduction strategies that include addressing lead exposure.

Find Workforce Development Opportunities: Youth in Memphis and Baltimore are being connected with workforce training programs that will feed into jobs related to mitigating extreme heat and replacing lead pipes. This not only provides a pathway to a good job for residents, it’s also a way to improve the local economy. Mayor Scott shared that this particularly hit home, as he spent his youth working for the family HVAC business installing air conditioners.   

Message Early to Residents: Mayor Young recommended proactively and consistently educating the public about risks and benefits when working on these issues. For lead pipe replacement, which involves plumbing and infrastructure work in and around people’s homes, it’s best to get information out early before “someone’s knocking at your door to dig up your lawn.” One tip he shared was to engage with social media and local influencers, to reach residents where they’re getting news already. 

Understand and Address Resistance: A throughline of the conversation was the reality that not every resident will be ready to participate in this work. For example, someone might not want the city to come and plant trees on their street despite the fact that increasing the tree canopy lowers temperatures. “It’s not as easy to plant a tree as people think,” said Mayor Scott. He recommended that deeper conversations reveal important factors like the misconception that having more trees will create a less safe environment, in order to effectively address these concerns. Understanding the “why” behind the resistance allows the mayor to push back on misinformation — especially in the case of tree planting and crime, as studies actually show an association between neighborhoods with more trees and lower crime rates.     

Get Creative with Funding: With the federal programs that many cities relied on for environmental justice and public health work in limbo, both mayors discussed alternative funding. In Baltimore, the extensive work installing air conditioning in schools is funded by the city’s bottle tax. And in Memphis, the Light, Water, and Gas utility is exploring different local funding sources for the lead pipe replacement work as infrastructure grants are unresolved.

Perhaps the biggest take-away was the importance of making decisions now for future generations, by folding environmental and public health work into all aspects of city governance. “We have to acknowledge that extreme heat impacts everything that we do and every pillar,” said Mayor Scott. All three mayors emphasized that other city leaders can’t let this get pushed to the back burner, but instead must thread environmental and public health work through all their priority areas. Rather than develop a whole new agenda or compete with existing priorities, it’s about using a new lens to ensure healthier and safer communities.