Teresa Homsi

MiCCA Director Teresa Homsi shared the following testimony on Feb. 26, 2026 in Gaylord, Michigan as part of a series of "People's Hearing" events on extreme weather, in partnership with the Climate Action Campaign. Like many others living in northern Michigan last year, I couldn’t sleep the first Saturday night of the storm, kept awake by the sound of branches cracking and crashing to the ground. Wrapped up in blankets, I found myself bracing for the potential impact of a tree on my roof. At...

When I got my COVID and flu vaccines earlier this year, it didn’t just feel like a health-conscious choice, but a civic duty. Over the last decade, we’ve increasingly seen how the rise in mis- and disinformation on social media platforms have fueled political polarization and vice versa. This has made even small, personal decisions like getting a flu shot take on some weighty political significance. There are many factors contributing to the rise of the anti-vax movement, including a lack of...

What does “do no harm” mean in the face of climate change? That’s what we asked dozens of attendees during our 2nd Annual Climate and Health Conference in Grand Rapids last Saturday. The question inspired fruitful discussions about the line health professionals have to walk when we evaluate short-term, immediate health risks and consider the existential dread climate change presents, where we have no easy cures. The Hippocratic oath is a simple principle behind medicine, but like many...