Advocates Partner To Center Older Adults, Who Are Overwhelmingly The Most Vulnerable Population To Climate Change

On September 26, LiveOn NY, a leading advocate for older adults in New York, joined researchers from the Cornell Initiative for Research on Climate and Aging (CIRCA) for a virtual roundtable discussion during Climate Week examining the often-overlooked risks that older adults face due to climate change. The webinar took place as part of the New York Climate and Aging Action Network (NY-CAAN), a collaboration between LiveOn NY, the New York Academy of Medicine, and CIRCA.

“We are aging more than ever, and so it’s more important than ever to include older people in climate discussions,” said Allison Nickerson, Executive Director at LiveOn NY. “The goal of NY-CAAN is to create evidence-based, common-sense policy and infrastructure solutions to protect us all as we get older.”

The panel explored how older adults face uniquely higher risks of negative health outcomes, financial strain and negative mental health impacts. It went on to discuss how the majority of natural disaster-related casualties and injuries are suffered by older adults, reinforcing the importance of centering older voices when identifying potential solutions.

“Climate change poses unique risks for older adults: we get more vulnerable to heat as we age, and disasters can interrupt critical care services,” said Karl Pillemer, Co-Director at the Cornell Initiative for Research on Climate and Aging. “This led to over 50% of deaths during Hurricane Sandy being older adults, underscoring the need for senior-focused policy solutions to address the climate crisis.”

NY-CAAN outlined multiple priorities over the next year of its partnership:

Identifying policy recommendations for senior-focused solutions to the climate crisis
A climate summit to ensure that the community most vulnerable to climate change has a voice in the discussion
Coalition-building across sectors, including aging advocates, academics, elected officials and community partners, as part of LiveOn NY’s Age Strong initiative
Provide advocates with political power-mapping to make advocacy more effective

More information on LiveOn NY can be found at our website: www.liveon-ny.org/. The webinar can be found here.

If you would like more information, please contact Frank Shintaro McMullin, Communications Specialist at LiveOn NY, at fmcmullin@liveon-ny.org or at (408) 620-0694.