Vulnerable Populations
Certain populations are disproportionately impacted due to unequal exposure and their limited ability to respond to climate risks.
While climate change creates risk for all Marylanders, certain populations are disproportionately impacted due to unequal exposure and their limited ability to respond to climate risks. These include children, older adults, pregnant people, communities of color, low-wealth communities, people with disabilities and chronic health conditions, and those living in climate-sensitive geographies, such as rural, coastal, and flood-prone areas. Some of these vulnerabilities are due to unequal social structures and disparate access to opportunity.
The following examples illustrate the disproportionate impacts climate change has on the health of certain populations.
Pregnant People and Children
All children deserve and need a safe and healthy environment to grow and develop. They need clean air to breathe, safe water to drink, nutritious food to eat, and healthy places to live, learn, and play. This is also true for pregnant people, as the additional stress on their body can make them more susceptible to climate-related impacts and affect birth outcomes. Infants and children are especially vulnerable to environmental exposures because they breathe, eat, and drink more, in proportion to their body size, than do adults, and because their bodies and brains are still developing.
Communities of Color
Climate change poses disproportionate impacts on marginalized communities, including people of color, exacerbating existing inequalities. These communities face unique challenges stemming from systemic factors including environmental and socioeconomic disparities, which increases their vulnerability to climate change.
Persons with Disabilities or Chronic Health Conditions
Residents of our communities deal with a wide variety of visible and invisible disabilities and chronic health conditions
Workers
Maryland employs approximately 350,000 agricultural workers and 20,000 people in construction across the state. Those that work in these and other outdoor professions are at a particular risk from increasing temperatures. This is especially true because there are not strong regulations or worker standards on heat to protect them. Indoor air quality in office buildings and warehouses are also impacted by outdoor air quality and temperatures.