Dr. Preeti Jaggi on Children’s Health, Clean Air, and the Power of Collective Action

Chapters

00:00 Meet Dr. Preeti Jaggi 

01:41 How a Doctor Found Her Way into Climate Advocacy 

05:27 How Climate Change Is Already Affecting Public Health in Georgia 

08:15 Where Public Health, Climate, and Equity Intersect 

11:17 A Drawdown Georgia Grant to Electrify School Buses 

17:11 The Statewide Reach of the Electric School Bus Project 

22:00 Why Electric School Buses Matter for Climate and Health 

24:33 How Georgians Can Support This Work 

26:44 What’s Giving Dr. Jaggi Hope

Locally focused, cross-disciplinary climate action is crucial to advancing meaningful solutions across Georgia. That type of work, rooted in both science and community partnership, is exactly what Dr. Preeti Jaggi is focused on.

In this edition of the Georgia Climate Digest interview series, host Eriqah Vincent sits down with Dr. Jaggi, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and a leader with Georgia Clinicians for Climate Action, to talk about the connections between climate and public health, equitable access to clean air, and her team’s Drawdown Georgia Climate Solutions & Equity Grant project focused on scaling electric school bus adoption.

How Does Climate Change Affect Public Health in Georgia?

Dr. Jaggi walks through the direct and indirect health effects of a warming climate in Georgia, from heat stroke during hotter summers to the downstream effects of stronger storms, including waterborne illness, mosquito-borne disease, and disruptions to medical supply chains. She points to Hurricane Helene’s damage to a major saline plant in North Carolina, which forced hospitals nationwide to ration supplies, as one example of how climate impacts can ripple far beyond the storm itself.

How Are Climate, Health, and Equity Connected?

Dr. Jaggi explains how historic inequities like redlining show up in today’s health outcomes, with previously redlined communities often having less tree cover and green infrastructure, and worse urban heat islands and air pollution as a result. She and Eriqah also discuss how financial strain compounds these effects, since evacuating from a storm or absorbing a higher power bill during extreme heat isn’t equally possible for everyone.

How Is Georgia Working to Electrify School Buses?

One of the most innovative parts of Dr. Jaggi’s work has been leading a statewide effort, funded by a Drawdown Georgia Climate Solutions & Equity Grant, to accelerate the switch from diesel to electric school buses. Georgia Clinicians for Climate Action partnered with Mothers and Others for Clean Air and the Georgia State Medical Association, pairing trusted healthcare voices explaining the health case for electrification with hands-on logistical support for districts navigating funding, charging infrastructure, and driver training. “We really need a village to help with these problems,” Dr. Jaggi says. “You cannot think in silos.”

Why Do Electric School Buses Matter So Much?

Beyond emissions reductions, Dr. Jaggi connects electric buses directly to children’s health, pointing to reduced exposure to pollutants linked to asthma, impaired cognition, and cardiovascular disease. Black children in Georgia already face disproportionate rates of asthma and premature birth, making this an equity issue as much as a climate one.

Whether you’re a healthcare provider, a parent, or simply curious about where climate and public health meet, this conversation offers a clear look at how cross-disciplinary collaboration is moving climate solutions forward in Georgia.

What You’ll Learn

• How Dr. Jaggi’s early interest in climate and health grew into a career in climate advocacy.
• Why healthcare itself contributes meaningfully to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
• The direct and indirect ways climate change is already affecting public health in Georgia.
• How historic inequities like redlining shape today’s climate and health disparities.
• How Georgia Clinicians for Climate Action, Mothers and Others for Clean Air, and the Georgia State Medical Association are working together to electrify school buses statewide.
• Why electric school buses matter for children’s cognition, respiratory health, and equity.
• How Georgians can get involved as healthcare champions or advocates.
• What gives Dr. Jaggi hope about climate progress in Georgia.

Continue reading in our companion blog for additional examples, data points, and key takeaways from Dr. Jaggi’s conversation about climate, children’s health, and clean air in Georgia.

Download the Interview Transcript

Prefer to read the conversation instead? Download the complete PDF transcript of this interview with Dr. Preeti Jaggi to explore her insights on climate and public health, equity, and the push to electrify Georgia’s school buses.