June 15, 2023 | Originally published in The Hill
By: Marcos Moreno, MD
This spring, the Northeast and Midwest saw record-breaking heat. California’s recently ended drought was the worst in more than 1,200 years. And temperatures topped 110 degrees during the Pacific Northwest’s now infamous 2021 heat dome, with more than 250 heat-related deaths documented.
As climate change advances, drought and extreme heat plague vast areas of the country. While the Biden administration has taken important steps to address climate change, a key group has been left out of the conversation: Indigenous people.
The original Americans — particularly those of us from the desert southwest — have a millennium’s worth of knowledge to offer on heat and drought mitigation practices, as well as lessons on overall sustainability. The administration should seek to establish a formalized relationship between the National Climate Task Force and Indigenous Nations of America…READ THE FULL ARTICLE>
Marcos A. Moreno M.D. is a resident physician in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University. An enrolled Member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe from the Pascua Yaqui Reservation in Southern Arizona, Moreno is also a Climate Health Equity Fellow with the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health.