Community Health and Climate Summit: Creating a Happy, Healthy, and Resilient Missoula

On Friday, over 100 people, from health professionals to city planners to affordable housing advocates and more, turned out for Climate Smart Missoula's third Community Climate Summit, this time to discuss all things climate and health. This diverse cross-section of the Missoula community heard from a panel of excellent speakers about current efforts to address public health challenges at the neighborhood level, the latest cutting edge research on local climate change projections (spoiler: it's going to get hot), and how we can work together to address the mental and physical health impacts wrought by a changing climate, especially for the most vulnerable groups like low-income folks and children. (It's no coincidence that's a key part of our Summer Smart program!) Speaking of Summer Smart - we also unveiled a new video about wildfire smoke - now live on our website. More videos to come soon!

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​For the second half of the morning, we turned the tables: attendees had a chance to share their ideas for how to improve community health for all Missoulians in light of climate challenges. In breakout groups, there were insightful and productive conversations about wildfire smoke and extreme heat, healthy homes and emergency shelters, mental health, wellness and livability, and long-range planning strategies. So much good stuff! 

We were thrilled by the great turnout and dynamic conversations around the room. Like our previous summits, we were impressed with our community's creativity, collaborative spirit, and dedication. We know that, together, we can take bold action to create the Missoula we want to see. 

Here are a few more good things to check out: 

• Great coverage of the Summit in the Missoula Current: Missoula Summit Explores Impacts of Climate Change on Health, Poverty
• The Montana Climate Office will release their first Montana Climate Assessment in 2017 - keep your eyes peeled!
• The Missoula Invest Health project is addressing health challenges in three neighborhoods: Northside/Westside, River Road and Franklin to the Fort. Stay tuned - we got a preview of their super cool interactive map where you can layer health data like obesity rates with neighborhood features like bike routes.