Review of United States senators’ website position statements on climate change and health

Abstract

Background: Climate change represents a threat to the health of all Americans. We wanted to know if federal representatives are informing their constituents about this risk. Methods: To answer this question, we reviewed the official websites of all 100 United States senators to determine if they made statements about health, climate change, and the health and/or environmental justice relevance of climate change. We also determined their vote on the only climate change-related bill to come to a senator vote during the 116th Congress (S.J. Res 53). Findings: We found 86% of senators’ websites mentioned health, 51% climate change, 21% climate change and health, and 7% environmental justice and health. Among voting senators, 46% voted yes, including 76% of those with websites mentioning climate change, and 100% of those whose websites mentioned an interaction of climate change with health or environmental justice. Interpretation: There is opportunity for senators to improve website messaging on climate change and health.