I’m Senior Scientist on NRDC’s Global Warming and Health Project. I work with the Health and Environment Program on communicating the health impacts of global warming, and also on advocating for public health strategies to prepare for and prevent these impacts. My research has looked at heat- and ozone-related mortality and illnesses as well as possible connections between climate, pollen, allergies and asthma. I attended Cornell University and Hunter College/CUNY, and received a doctorate in public health from Columbia University, where I was a postdoctoral research scientist before joining NRDC, and where I’m currently Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences.
Posted May 21, 2012 by Kim Knowlton in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming, U.S. Law and Policy
Here are some facts for the next conversation you find yourself having about the weather extremes we've seen recently. There were 3,251 monthly weather records broken in the U.S. last year. Across the country, 2011 saw so many extreme events that NRDC...continued→
Posted May 4, 2012 by Kim Knowlton in Health and the Environment, Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming, The Media and the Environment
Though I’m a scientist, accustomed to statistics and hard facts, I’m increasingly unsettled by the extreme weather events we experience so much these days. The increases in heavy rainstorms, floods, and droughts that climate scientists have long projected would accompany...continued→
Posted April 20, 2012 by Kim Knowlton in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming, U.S. Law and Policy
My hometown is now New York City, and I have pretty much been in a New York State of mind all my life. I grew up in lovely countryside east of Binghamton, NY; spent many years in the Finger...continued→
Posted March 27, 2012 by Kim Knowlton in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming, U.S. Law and Policy
The new carbon rule announced today by the US EPA is nothing short of an historic step toward creating healthier, more secure communities. These standards put limits on industrial carbon pollution from new power plants. They represent the first-ever national...continued→
Posted March 8, 2012 by Kim Knowlton in Curbing Pollution, Environmental Justice, Health and the Environment, Living Sustainably, Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming, The Media and the Environment
Today, March 8th is International Women’s Day; the 2012 theme is, “Connecting Girls, Inspiring Futures.” I am so moved by the younger, awesome women and girls who are working to build a healthier, more equitable world. My work as a...continued→
Posted March 7, 2012 by Kim Knowlton in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming, U.S. Law and Policy
Climate change affects human health, right here in the US. One face of climate change is the face of an asthmatic child, using an inhaler to breathe. NRDC has been working for years to connect the dots between the rapidly-growing...continued→
Posted February 27, 2012 by Kim Knowlton in Health and the Environment, Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming
2012 kicked off with an unusually warm January across most of the US: fifteen states had “much above normal” temperatures, in the top 10% of warmest Januaries on record. For many folks across the nation, the extreme weather of 2011...continued→
Posted January 11, 2012 by Kim Knowlton in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming, U.S. Law and Policy
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has just released a new, interactive reporting tool for major greenhouse gas (GHG) sources in the US. It’s a user-friendly way to explore what facilities are the biggest sources of health-harming carbon pollution. This...continued→
Posted December 8, 2011 by Kim Knowlton in Health and the Environment, Solving Global Warming
I grew up in a small rural town in upstate New York, east of Binghamton, north of the Catskills. Some of my sweetest summers were spent at my grandfather’s fishing camp outside Cooks Falls. As a kid, I rode my...continued→
Posted November 18, 2011 by Kim Knowlton in Health and the Environment, Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming, U.S. Law and Policy
For millions of Americans, and people around the globe, 2011 has been nothing if not a year of extremes: 14 disastrous weather events in the US so far this year have each cost over a billion dollars in damages, an all-time...continued→
Posted November 8, 2011 by Kim Knowlton in Health and the Environment, Solving Global Warming, U.S. Law and Policy
The extreme weather just won’t seem to leave people alone this year. I’m talking to an arborist to find replacements for beloved lilac bushes and one magnolia tree that just got tall enough to lend some nice summer shade, now...continued→
Posted November 3, 2011 by Kim Knowlton in Health and the Environment, Solving Global Warming, U.S. Law and Policy
You don’t have to convince the 13,000 American public health professionals in Washington, DC this week for the American Public Health Association meeting that climate change harms people’s health. They recognize the health risks of carbon pollution, and see the...continued→
Posted September 5, 2011 by Kim Knowlton in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, U.S. Law and Policy
Let’s keep health front and center in looking at deeply distrurbing news from 2011’s Labor Day weekend: the White House retreated Friday on an opportunity to save lives and improve Americans' health. The President refused to set lower, more health-protective ozone air quality standards. The...continued→
Posted August 30, 2011 by Kim Knowlton in Health and the Environment, Solving Global Warming
Today it was 111°F in Phoenix, AZ; tomorrow a high of 107°F is predicted. More than 70 days this summer have topped 100°F in central Texas. Much of the West still swelters under record-breaking summer heat. NRDCs new “Climate Change Threatens...continued→
Posted August 25, 2011 by Kim Knowlton in Health and the Environment, Solving Global Warming
NRDC’s “Climate Change Threatens Health” webpages map five major climate-health vulnerabilities across the US. One of these is Flooding, which much of the East Coast is now bracing for because of the approach of Hurricane Irene. It’s time for everyone...continued→
Switchboard is the staff blog of the Natural Resources Defense Council, the nation’s most effective environmental group. For more about our work, including in-depth policy documents, action alerts and ways you can contribute, visit NRDC.org.
