- The shocking danger of mountaintop removal – and why it must end
- Why community is our best chance for survival—a lesson post-Hurricane Maria
- How small collective actions create a water secure world
- Bringing facts to life through ecological art
- The link between climate change, health and poverty
- What it takes to create social change against all odds
IN A NUTSHELL
Public health scientist Michael Hendryx shares evidence that mountaintop removal coal mining poses unexpected health hazards to workers and their communities.ABOUT MICHAEL
Michael Hendryx is a pioneering research investigator focused on the impacts of uneven environmental exposures faced by socioeconomically disadvantaged groups. In 2006, Michael started a research program on public health disparities for people in Appalachia who live in proximity to coal mining, with a focus on mountaintop removal. This research has shown that people who live close to mountaintop removal are at increased risk for a wide set of health problems including respiratory illness, cardiovascular disease, birth defects, cancer, and others. Michael has published over 130 peer reviewed research papers and has been an investigator on numerous grants and contracts. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Environmental Health at Indiana University Bloomington’s School of Public Health.
LEARN MORE
Podcast: Professor Hendryx vs. Big Coal
Unintended consequences of the Clean Air Act: Mortality rates in Appalachian coal mining communities, 2016
We need our planet more than it needs us. Human health and climate health are intimately intertwined.
We, individually and collectively, have a relationship with the planet we live on. Like the human body, the planet Earth is a complicated balance of elements that work in harmony to provide stability long into the future. When that balance is disrupted by unnatural events, such as human activity, our future is less certain.
When we consider human health, we must consider how the health of our climate health shapes it—whether it is the impact the climate has on the social determinants of health, the depletion of essential resources like water caused by a changing climate, how we can harness art to connect ourselves to our environment, or how united communities may have profound impacts.
Our speakers have a unique understanding of our connection to climate and its impact on our health. They ask us to consider how we may act as communities on a road toward a healthier world, both for our climate and ourselves.
