Taking on Climate Change Through a Health Care Lens.

Abstract

As one of many global health trends, climate change, with the consequent threat to planetary health and populations worldwide, has been emerging for some time as a major destabilizing factor in public health. In recent years, extreme weather events seem to have become more frequent and have revealed the fragility of our planet and the deleterious effects that such events can have on the health of individuals, communities, and ecosystems. In the United States, coastal areas are experiencing rising sea levels and devastating storms. Farming areas in the Midwest are coping with crop-damaging heat, whereas the western portions of the country are encountering wildfires and drought. The specific health effects attributed to climate change are vast indeed and have the potential to undermine the progress that has been made in global health in recent decades. The basic ingredients of good health are threatened: clean air, safe drinking water, nutritious food, and safe shelter. The World Health Organization (World Health Organization 2019, September 6World Health OrganizationClimate Change.2019, September 6https://www.who.int/health-topics/climate-change#tab=overviewGoogle Scholar) estimates that between 2030 and 2050, an additional 250,000 deaths per year may be attributed to malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress. The additional worldwide health care costs associated with climate change are expected to reach up to $4 billion per year by 2030. The effects of climate change only serve to deepen the harmful health impacts related to social and health inequality. Whereas cities are viewed as major contributors to climate change, accounting for 70% of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions (Kurth, 2017Kurth A.E. Planetary health and the role of nursing: A call to action.Journal of Nursing Scholarship. 2017; 49: 598-605Crossref PubMed Scopus (31) Google Scholar), those living in underserved urban areas may also be disproportionately affected because of the lack of potable water, food insecurity, effects of flooding, disruptions of the infrastructure, and associated mental health consequences. It is estimated that the health care sector alone contributes up to 10% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The World Health Organization is among a growing number of available resources that highlight the impact of climate change while offering important data and helpful resources (World Health Organization 2019, September 6World Health OrganizationClimate Change.2019, September 6https://www.who.int/health-topics/climate-change#tab=overviewGoogle Scholar). The organization underscores that the 2015 Paris Climate Accord is arguably the strongest health agreement of this century and works to support the implementation of the ambitious climate action steps outlined in the accord. For health care providers, the Nurses Climate Challenge (https://nursesclimatechallenge.org) is a national campaign dedicated to mobilizing nurses to educate health professionals about the impact of climate change on human health. The goal of the campaign is to build a national network of informed health professionals dedicated to climate solutions within care settings and the broader community. I would encourage you to visit and register at their website. Similarly, the Alliance of Nurses for Health Environments (https://envirn.org), funded by the Kresge foundation, represents nurse educators who are dedicated to promoting environmental health in academia, clinical practice, research, and policy/advocacy efforts. And congratulations to former NAPNAP President Mikki Meadows-Oliver on being selected as a Fellow of the Alliance of Nurses for Health Environments! Through this fellowship, she will join other colleagues to educate health care providers on environmental health threats and work to address the disproportionate impact of environmental exposures on vulnerable groups. The promotion of planetary health is conceptually a relatively new area for research and practice. Yet, tending to the environment has always been a hallmark of nursing care. As health care providers, nurses, and global citizens, preventing and mitigating the health problems attributed to climate change and ensuring the health of the planet may be our biggest challenge yet.