Most healthcare workers are concerned about the impact of climate change on our futures. However, attention to the current effects of climate change on health is only beginning to emerge as an integral part of health professional education and practice. This series will bring together diverse healthcare workers to learn and to share strategies for integrating climate concerns into care of our patients and communities. We will also gain knowledge and tools to become effective advocates to reduce climate impacts on health. As trusted members of our communities, we are ideal messengers to promote actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The time to act is now.
Presenters
Session 1 – Erich Osterberg, PhD
Planetary Health and the Science of Climate Change
Session 2 – Sarah Crockett, MD, FAWM, & Matt Cahillane, MPH
Extreme Weather Events: Patterns, Preparation, Responses
Session 3 – Elizabeth Talbot, MD
Evolving Ecosystem Impacts on Vector-Borne and other Diseases
Session 4 – Laura Paulin, MD, MHS
Health Impacts of Air Pollution
Session 5 – Josh Wortzel
Connecting Earth, Body, Mind and Spirit
Session 6 - Shalini Shah, DO, PGY5
Toward Climate Informed Care and Advocacy
Learning Outcome
At the conclusion of this learning activity, (at least 75% of) participants will be able to create a change in practice that incorporates knowledge of the health effects of climate change into an overall patient care.
Disclosure
The following activity director(s), planning committee member(s), speaker(s), author(s) or anyone in a position to control the content for this activity have reported the following financial relationship(s)* with ineligible company(ies)**. All of the relevant financial relationships listed for these individuals have been mitigated.
Elizabeth Talbot, MD ~ is a consultant to Insmed, Inc. and ResApp, Inc.
Other planning committee member(s), speaker(s), activity director(s), author(s) or anyone in a position to control the content for this activity report NO financial relationship(s)* with any ineligible company(ies)**.
* A “financial relationship" includes employee, researcher (named as the PI), consultant, advisor, speaker, independent contractor (including contracted research), royalties or patent beneficiary, executive role, and/or an ownership interest (not including stocks owned in a managed portfolio).
** An ineligible company is any entity whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.
Bibliographic Material
Planetary Health and Science of Climate Change – Session 1
- IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Sixth Assessment. Climate Change 2022 Impacts, Adaptation, Vulnerabilities. The IPCC Report is the state of the art, international assessment on the status of climate change. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/
- Science study about investment in clean energy and efficiency. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abc9697
- Multisolving at the Intersection of Health and Climate Report
https://www.multisolving.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Multisolving-at-the-Intersection-of-Health-and-Climate-1.pdf
Extreme Weather Events: Patterns, Preparation, Responses – Session 2
- CDC Climate and Health website. Information on the health impacts of climate change, including heat and other extreme weather events and how to address them https://www.cdc.gov/climateandhealth/default.htm
- American College of Emergency Physicians, statement on Climate Change. https://www.acep.org/patient-care/policy-statements/impact-of-climate-change-on-public-health-and-implications-for-emergency-medicine/
- Urban Heat and Environmental Justice articles/pages
- 2021 Urban Heat Island Study. https://climate.ncsu.edu/research/uhi/
- Populations of concern bear the brunt of urban heat island effects. https://indyweek.com/news/durham/urban-heat-islands-black-neighborhoods-in-durham-are-hotter/
- Urban green space, public health and environmental justice. https://escholarship.org/content/qt8pf8s47q/qt8pf8s47q.pdf
- Do the characteristics of new green space contribute to gentrification? https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0042098021989951?journalCode=usja&
- The impact of greenspace on urban crime. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/24/5119
Evolving Ecosystem Impacts on Vector-Borne and other Diseases – Session 3.
- Caminade C, McIntyre KM, Jones AE. Impact of recent and future climate change on vector-borne diseases. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2019 Jan;1436(1):157-173. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30120891/
- McIntyre KM, Setzkorn C, Hepworth PJ, Morand S, Morse AP, Baylis M. Systematic Assessment of the Climate Sensitivity of Important Human and Domestic Animals Pathogens in Europe. Sci Rep. 2017 Aug 2;7(1):7134. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28769039/
- Article on forest management to reduce ticks. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34155574/ Conte CE, Leahy JE, Gardner AM. Active Forest Management Reduces Blacklegged Tick and Tick-Borne Pathogen Exposure Risk. Ecohealth. 2021 Jun;18(2):157-168.
Health Impacts of Air Pollution – Session 4
- National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). EPA’s standards not to be exceeded to protect public health for six air pollutants. https://www.epa.gov/criteria-air-pollutants/naaqs-table
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Research on how the environment, including air quality, impacts human health. https://www.niehs.nih.gov/
- U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Specific information on air quality found here. linked to extensive information on all aspects of the environment and climate changes. https://www.epa.gov/environmental-topics/air-topics
- NH Department of Environmental Services (NH DES). Specific information on air quality found here, linked to extensive information on environmental and climate change issues in NH. https://www.des.nh.gov/home-and-recreation/air-quality
Connecting Earth, Body, Mind and Spirit - Session 5
- The Climate Psychiatry Alliance (CPA). Has many other climate and mental health related resources and is working on developing climate aware therapy trainings and https://www.climatepsychiatry.org/
- The Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education. Includes extensive educational resources related to climate and mental health. https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/research/global-consortium-climate-and-health-education/resources
- Coco’s Fire: Changing Climate Anxiety into Climate Action. A book by Joshua Wortzel and Lina Champlin and the Committee on Climate Change and Mental Health of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry that addresses how to talk to children about climate change.
- Braiding Sweetgrass. A book that “inspires us to be grateful for earth” and “responsible for taking care of earth the way mother earth has taken care of us”. https://milkweed.org/book/braiding-sweetgrass
- The Disordered Cosmos by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein (a physicist) – A book that “dreams into existence a world that allows everyone to experience and understand the wonders of the universe.” https://www.akpress.org/the-disordered-cosmos.html
Putting Climate Informed Care into Practice - Session 6
- Key articles on climate informed practice
- Philipsborn RP, Cowenhoven J, Bole A, Balk SJ, Bernstein A. A Pediatrician's Guide to Climate Change-Informed Primary Care. Curr Probl Pediatr Adolesc Health Care. 2021 Jun;51(6):101027. doi: 10.1016/j.cppeds.2021.101027. Epub 2021 Jul 7. PMID: 34244061. Available free at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34244061/
- Boland TM, Temte JL. Family Medicine. Patient and Physician Attitudes Toward Climate Change and Health in Wisconsin. Wilderness Environ Med. 2019 Dec;30(4):386-393.
- Professional education on climate and health – websites and articles
- Philipsborn RP, Sheffield P, White A, Osta A, Anderson MS, Bernstein A. Climate Change and the Practice of Medicine: Essentials for Resident Education. Acad Med. 2021 Mar 1;96(3):355-367. Available free at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32910006/
- Goshua A, Gomez J, Erny B, Burke M, Luby S, Sokolow S, LaBeaud AD, Auerbach P, Gisondi MA, Nadeau K. Addressing Climate Change and Its Effects on Human Health: A Call to Action for Medical Schools. Acad Med. 2021 Mar 1;96(3):324-328. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33239537/
- Food, climate & health information
- Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT-Lancet Commission on Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food systems. A comprehensive scientific report on healthy diets from sustainable food systems with numerous references and links. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31788-4/fulltext
- Article on the role of the gut microbiome and inflammation and depression/anxiety. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jnr.24476
- Healthcare Decarbonization information
- HHS Healthcare Sector Pledge & Resources. U.S. DHHS defines national goals for health systems in achieving sustainability with the opportunity to pledge to achieve them. https://www.hhs.gov/climate-change-health-equity-environmental-justice/climate-change-health-equity/actions/health-care-sector-pledge/index.html
- National Institutes of Medicine’s Decarbonizing the U.S. Health System. Open to all healthcare entities, provides a neutral platform to align around collective goals and actions for decarbonization, based on evidence, shared solutions, and a commitment to improve health equity.
https://nam.edu/programs/climate-change-and-human-health/action-collaborative-on-decarbonizing-the-u-s-health-sector/
