whether countries can or will meet their prior# pledges to hold down global temperatures.

If temperatures continue to climb, the# impact on human health could be profound,## and some doctors say their# profession is not prepared.

William Brangham has the story, in collaboration## with the Global Health Reporting Center,# WI LLIAM BRANGHAM: On a chilly fall# day in Cambridge, Massachusetts,## the conversation here at Harvard is about# extreme heat and how in South it kills tens of thousands of people every year.

DR. SATCHIT BALSARI, Harvard University: The# water, the portable water be that they can't drink it.

WILLIAM the CrisisReady initiative at Harvard.# He's part of a movement to get doctors## focused on how climate change impacts# human health And how to respond.

You're an emergency room physician.

How is it# that you are talking so much about climate change?

DR. SATCHIT BALSARI: I mean, there is a# direct impact on health.

Heat waves will## lead to heat illness and heat exhaustion and# heat stroke.

People present to the emergency## room when there are wildfires and there is smoke# and there's more particulate matter in the ai And -- but there is also a persistent tale# of morbidity and mortality that these extreme## weather events are resulting in, in this# day and age, even in the developed world.

MAN: The rickshaw pullers are the# first victims of temperature increase.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Today, he and his# colleagues are working on a project## to try and understand and hopefully# mitigate some of the heat in places where millions of the# world's poorest people live and work.

In India, Balsari's team partnered with# the Self-Employed Women's Association,## a union that represents small-scale# independent workers, who make up the## vast bulk of India's population.

By giving# them tiny, wearable temperature sensors,## they found the women were often experiencing heat# extremes well beyond what was officially recorded.

DR. SATCHIT BALSARI: So this is# Madhuben's house.

Madhuben works## from home.

She's a weaver.

I'll just# sh for example, the green dots are the satellite# observations.

So that's NASA powe WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But the gold shows the# readings from the sensors in the women's homes.

DR. SATCHIT BALSARI: So there is# a 10 degree difference between the## temperature outside and the temperature at home.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So the cruder# temperatur oh, it's actually not so bad# because its cooling at night DR. SATCHIT BALSARI: Yes.

it's much more unpleasant.

DR. SATCHIT BA WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Living and working# in 45 degrees 113 degrees Fahrenheit -- is more# than unpleasant.

It's dangerous.

DR. SATCHIT BALSARI: This has massive# ramifications for workplace safety as## well.

To be able to say that when# it is only 40 degrees outside,## we know that these kinds of workshops# actually are at 45 or 48 degrees.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: This kind# of fine-grained data points## to problems and solutions which# are barely DR. SATCHIT BALSARI: If we had better# information about local climates,## you could change school timings, for example.# There were a bunch of children of workers that## we were working with who stopped going to# school because it would get so hot in the## afternoon that their feet would burn# when they would step on the asphalt.

And so they just stopped going to school.# And unless you're on the field studying this,## it wouldn't really occur to any of us that school## dropouts is because its too# hot to walk back from school.

DR. CAROLINE BUCKEE, Harvard University: Trying# to do better models, using microclimate v WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Balsari's partner# in this work is Dr. Caroline Buckee,## a Harvard professor of epidemiology.

DR. CAROLINE BUCKEE: A lot of the ways that we# are from large global models, remote sensing# data from satellites and things like And the scale in which we're talking about# the problem is often too large.

So we don't## have that granular, human scale data to# understand the impacts of climate change.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Getting better data is# critical.

Knowing who is most affected## could trigger insurance payments,# disaster declarations, and more.

For Balsari, Hurricane Maria, the storm which# devastated Puerto Rico in 2017, was a crystal## clear example of a climate-driven# disaster impacting human health.

DR. SATCHIT BALSARI: Caroline Buckee# and I were involved in a study.

While## the initial government estimates# were that about 64 people the study suggested that the true# mortality was closer to about 4,000.

They didn't die on the day of the# landfall.

They died for months of## disruption to other aspects of their lives.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Disruptions like power outages,# shortages of medicine, and a loss# of MAN: So I can talk pretty loud, but# I can't probably talk that loud.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And so how can the medical## community help preve In a first-of-its-kind program run by the# University of Colorado School of Medicine, that' a main focus.

These doctors and nurses are working# towards a diploma in climate medicine.

It involves## five separate courses, from making hospitals# more environmentally friendly, to this training## session at the aptly named Disaster City at the# Texas A&M Engineering and Extension Service.

DR. TERRY O'CONNOR, University of Colorado:# The 911 center will send a liaison.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Dr. Terry O'Connor from## the University of Colora DR. TERRY O'CONNOR: Some of these# events are coming more and more## with less pre-notification.

They a WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The damage caused by weather# disasters is on the rise, not just because of## a warming world, but also because more# people are moving into vulnerable areas.

DR. TERRY O'CONNOR: When we inquire within our# own hospital systems or within our medical staff,## we find ourselves still pretty unprepared# for the scope and scale of these even WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Jason Moats, who is# helping to teach the disaster prep course,## says America's medical infrastructure# is woefully unprepared.

Take what## happened to a major Houston hospital# during Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

JASON MOATS, Texas A&M University:# They had put their generator in the## basement of the parking garage.

And,# OK, there.

People won't mess with it.

It's# secure.

But it's also very vulnerable## to the floodwater seeping in.

Yes, well, it# knocked the generator out.

They lost power.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: They run# through tabletop simulations,## how to respond to floods or fires, how to# deal with extreme cold or extreme heat.

WOMAN: When you lose power, do# not automatically -- does not## every hospital automatically decide to evacuate?

WOMAN: No, because you may not have a place# to evacuate to.

You ma if there's flooding, how are you going to move# your patients if you can't move the vehicles?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The students come from all# over the country, wilderness medicine experts,## oncologists, and everything in between.

DR. ELIZABETH CERCEO, Cooper University# Health the emergency room more fun to have different perspectives.

It# really does broaden the experience for us.

DR. TARA BENESCH, University of Colorado# School of Medicine: An experience like,## this course, w WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And this program is part of# a bigger movement.

Since 2019, the number of## U.S. medical schools requiring coursework on the# effects of climate change has more than doubled.

DR. TERRY O'CONNOR: We have a storm on the# horizon that's coming in, and if we don't## do what we can to avoid that problem, we're# in for a world of hurt.

To put it bluntly,## it's giving these providers hope.

That's# probably the most important thing.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: O'Connor says doctors have to## take up the burden together to forge# For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm William Brangham.