Reno has been identified as the fastest-warming city in the United States by Climate Central, a nonprofit news organization that analyzes and reports on climate science. With the Davis Fire still burning southwest of the city, causing local school closures and mass evacuations, one does not need to look far to find evidence of climate change.
Wildfires present immediate and imminent dangers to Washoe County residents. But what are the long-term health impacts of climate change on local lives — especially the lives of local children?
Debra Hendrickson, MD, a pediatrician in Reno, is perhaps the person most qualified to explore that question. She is also an associate clinical professor at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, where she lectures on the impact of early childhood experiences on long-term health. Her new book, The Air They Breathe: A Pediatrician on the Frontlines of Climate Change, was published by Simon & Schuster on July 2.
“Last month, Reno’s neighborhoods fell silent as a severe heat wave brought a string of above-100-degree days — once unheard of here — and forced children indoors, robbing them of normal summer activities,” Hendrickson wrote in an opinion column published by the Los Angeles Times on August 15. “We know what can follow that kind of heat and kept a wary eye to our west, waiting for smoke from the next megafire. … Climate change injures children in insidious and indirect ways, and parents may not even realize that they’ve been harmed. Take, for example, the wildfire smoke that now regularly engulfs my city. The smoke is packed with fine and ultrafine particles — microscopic soot and droplets bound to heavy metals and toxic chemicals — that are also found in fossil fuel emissions such as car exhaust. We know that children who are chronically exposed to particle pollution will tend to have smaller, stiffer lungs.”
This month, Dr. Hendrickson will read excerpts from her book and discuss the issues raised therein at three Washoe County libraries. Dr. Hendrickson is also available for media interviews and can provide broad context for the health effects of rising annual temperatures and increasingly potent fire seasons in Northern Nevada.
She will speak at the Incline Village Library, 845 Alder Ave., Incline Village, on Saturday, September 14 at 11 a.m.; at the Northwest Reno Library, 2325 Robb Drive, Reno, on Sunday, September 15, at 1 p.m.; and at the South Valleys Library, 15650-A Wedge Parkway, Reno, on Sunday, September 29, at 11 a.m.
For more information about these events, visit washoelibrary.org/localauthors.
For more information about Dr. Hendrickson, including past interviews, opinion columns, and more, visit debrahendrickson.com.
For interview inquiries, contact Brad Bynum, Washoe County Library Marketing and Communications Assistant, at bbynum@washoecounty.gov.
For more information about library services and events, please visit washoecountylibrary.us.