CO2 Foundation supports a variety of communication projects linked to extreme weather awareness, preparedness, and threat reduction. As the impacts of climate change become clearer and more personal, one group of communicators is becoming increasingly central to the work of educating Americans: health professionals.

Across the spectrum – from doulas to surgeons – medical professionals communicate with their patients and others in the community about key health messages. Their education and training helps them understand the impacts of adverse environmental factors, and developing communication programs enable them to connect the dots between long-term action to limit climate change and more immediate actions, like protecting vulnerable people from air pollution caused by increasingly frequent and intense wildfires.

The Foundation supported Montana Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate to convene a successful 2024 conference, “Climate and Health in the 406,” and a subsequent flowering of the presence of climate and health stories in the media across Montana.

In 2025, Montana HPHC hosted a Farm Summit, focusing on the connections between human health, nutrition, climate change, and regenerative/organic farming. The CO2 Foundation renewed funding shortly thereafter, to continue to support the organization’s communications work: training healthcare professionals and doing creative outreach to the wider public.

One of the venues in which MTHPHC is showing up is on local public media. Their television show “Our Planet, Our Health”, has been a consistent venue for discussion of relevant topics

While Montana has a small population for a U.S. state, it is a diverse state politically and socioeconomically. Developing communication strategies there is an opportunity to observe how certain trusted messengers, messages, and venues can connect with people in ways that motivate their engagement.

The climate and health stewards program is working to catalyze Montana healthcare professionals to initiate climate action. The team is also exploring what climate and health messages appeal to patients and healthcare professionals in persistent poverty areas. A new team member has brought experience with We Are the Possible, launched at the COP30 in Brazil, as well.

Finally, MTHPHC leaders Lori and Rob Byron have participated in two new national reports this year:

• Fueling Sickness: The Hidden Health Costs of Fossil Fuel Pollution
• One Climate Event Away: Stories of Climate Change from the Frontlines of Health

Montana HPHC’s vision is to educate, advocate, and lead to build a healthy and just Montana, and the CO2 Foundation is proud to support its grounded and effective work.