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Climate change is already impacting access to healthy, safe, and affordable food and water across the United States. From food security and nutritional content to algae and blooms and waste ponds, these climate impacts have been felt first and worst by low wealth and BIPOC communities.

For the fourth webinar in our Climate and Health Equity series, Julian Gonzalez of Earthjustice will join Dr. Mark Mitchell for a discussion on how current policies have failed to protect communities from the food and water impacts of climate change. Gonzalez serves as a water policy lobbyist as a part of the Healthy Communities team at Earthjustice in Washington, D.C. and has spent his career working on environmental justice and water issues. He will cover climate and water policy areas including agricultural runoff, shellfish contamination, algae blooms, and waste ponds. Dr. Mitchell is a preventive medicine physician trained in environmental health and health policy and has spent over twenty years working in the public health sector and with environmental justice communities. He will discuss the impact of climate on agriculture, food justice, and briefly explore solutions.

Health professionals have a key role to play in testifying on the health impacts of climate change on food and water. Register here and please share widely!

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Julian Gonzalez serves as Earthjustice’s water policy lobbyist as a part of the Healthy Communities team in Washington, D.C. Before joining Earthjustice, Julian worked for GreenLatinos, handling water and oceans policy development, advocacy, and outreach to help ensure Latinx perspectives on water issues were reflected in Washington. Prior to joining GreenLatinos, Julian worked on Clean Water Act implementation issues for the Association of Clean Water Administrators, serving as a liaison between state agency leadership and their federal counterparts at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and between various states themselves. Originally from the Bronx, New York City, Julian’s environmentalist journey began with frequent trips to the Bronx Zoo and volunteering with the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance. Along the way, Julian received a B.S. in Wildlife Conservation Biology and Management from the University of Delaware and a J.D. from the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law in Washington. Julian also serves as a board member for the Hispanic Bar Association of Washington, D.C.

Mark Mitchell, MD MPH FACPM is the State Affairs Director at the Consortium. A preventive medicine physician trained in environmental health and health policy, Dr. Mitchell has spent over twenty years working in the public health sector, including as Director of the Hartford, Connecticut Health Department. He spent 15 years working with environmental justice communities to prevent and reduce environmentally related disease as well as to change policies that are detrimental to environmental health. Dr. Mitchell co-chairs the NMA’s Commission on Environmental Health, where he provides environmental health education and advocates on behalf of NMA. He has served on several EPA and FDA advisory committees and has received a number of awards for his community and environmental health leadership. Dr. Mitchell earned his medical degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and his Masters of Public Health from The Johns Hopkins University.