How Medical Professionals Prescribe Solutions to Climate Change

Feeling the heat? You’re not alone. The effects of climate change are palpable across the globe, with thousands of studies corroborating that at least 85% of the world’s population feel its direct impacts. Rising temperatures, changes in rainfall patterns, and proliferating extreme weather events signal that we need urgent climate change action. 

Climate action isn’t just for environmentalists and policymakers, though. Healthcare professionals are stepping up as one of the most important groups on the frontlines of the fight against climate change, witnessing its health ramifications firsthand. 

Doctors are facing growing challenges as the climate changes. Researchers project that cardiovascular deaths due to extreme heat will more than double in the United States in the coming decades. As temperatures climb, so will the spread of vector-borne diseases such as dengue fever throughout the U.S., which is currently experiencing its highest number of cases on record. Heatwaves are causing severe burns from hot outdoor surfaces, some even fatal. Wildfires are worsening, exposing millions to smoke and worsening air pollution. 

This Healthcare Humanitarian Day, let’s appreciate some of the ways medical professionals are going above and beyond and proving themselves to be a critical force in finding innovative solutions against the escalating public health crisis. 

Climate Change on the Medical Syllabus

Medical students are sounding the alarm, demanding that medical schools amp up their climate change education, recognizing how essential it is for healthcare providers to grasp the evolving landscape of climate-related health risks. 

A 2022 study revealed that only 55% of the 155 medical schools surveyed required climate change-related coursework. However, another survey found that 84% of surveyed students from 12 medical schools believe that it should be a core part of the medical school curriculum. A concerning 87% believed that their schools were dropping the ball and did not provide adequate education on the topic. 

Recognizing the critical gap in their education, passionate medical students like Natalie Baker are spearheading efforts to advocate for their schools to implement curricula that will effectively prepare these future doctors to address the consequences of climate change. Baker leads the organizations Medical Students for a Sustainable Future and Students for Environmental Action in Medicine, helping faculty develop a comprehensive climate change curriculum at Harvard Medical School. 

The goal of these curriculum changes, says Dr. Gaurab Basu, Director of Education and Policy at Harvard’s Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment, is to integrate climate change topics into the already-existing medical coursework. The curricula will introduce real-world connections that highlight the intersection between environmental issues and patient health without overwhelming them with too much new information. In this way, students might first learn the basics of kidney disease then examine how excessive heat can increase the incidence of kidney problems among outdoor workers due to dehydration. 

Trusted Voices Tackling Climate

Despite declining confidence in American institutions—the medical system as a whole reaching a decade low last year—nurses remain the most trusted healthcare profession. With their strong public trust and high ethics rating, nurses are emerging as a key ally in promoting understanding of climate change effects within the medical field, even pushing to make healthcare itself more sustainable. 

Take nurse Mia McPherson in Detroit, for example. She collaborated with a local nonprofit to provide a guidebook that explains the dangers of extreme heat to community members, rewording medical language to be more easily accessible. A longtime advocate for environmental justice, McPherson also aims to understand healthcare through the roots of illness, studying how urban food systems can combat food insecurity and improve nutrition. 

In a different approach, nurse Sara Wohlford in Virginia is tackling the healthcare sector’s contribution to climate change—8.5% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. After years of planning, Wohlford presented a sustainability plan to her hospital’s CEO and president. Her initiatives include increasing their recycling rates, cutting emissions from the gases used for anesthesia, and avoiding single-use plastic products. Wohlford is proving that hospitals can adopt sustainable practices and aims to expand these efforts across the Carilion system. 

Field Research, Literally

Another nurse, Dr. Roxana Chicas, is making waves with her groundbreaking research on climate-induced health risks among farmworkers in Central Florida. A bilingual immigrant born in El Salvador with a background in environmental health and specialty in kidney care, Chicas bridges language barriers to directly communicate with the workers, explaining the science behind the research to them. 

Chicas investigates the harsh realities faced by migrant farmworkers, who endure high rates of heat-related disease and mortality. With sensors to record core body temperature in real time and monitors for heart rate and physical activity, Chicas measured the workers’ physiologic responses to heat stress during their strenuous outdoor physical labor. 

Her study also tested practical interventions, such as having the workers wear cooling vests or bandanas on their head and drinking water infused with electrolytes, to consider the best options to protect against overheating and dehydration. Bandanas proved to be the most promising protection, with electrolyte water offering additional benefits.

Chicas hopes to raise awareness to have better protective standards and policies for these agricultural workers, whose rate of heat-related death is almost 20 times greater than the general American workforce and whose population is mostly made up of Latino immigrants. With a large portion of these workers being undocumented and more comfortable speaking Spanish, Chicas is drawing attention to the critical need for protections of these vulnerable and often overlooked demographics. 

Climate’s Mental Tolls

Psychiatrists are witnessing a worrying trend: patients with mental health conditions are experiencing heightened levels of vulnerability to the effects of climate change. In July 2022, Stephan Goodwin, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia several years prior, ventured out from his home in Arizona and was found less than two days later on the verge of death. He had been exposed to the brutal 111-degree Phoenix heat for over 24 hours before collapsing. 

This tragic incident highlights a serious issue. During a 2021 heatwave in British Columbia,  13% of heat-related casualties had schizophrenia. Individuals with schizophrenia are three times more likely to die in a heatwave compared to normal conditions. The heat impairs the brain’s ability to make sound decisions, and combined with the dehydrating effects of antipsychotic medications that make it harder to tolerate high temperatures, the heightened dangers are clear. Add this to the higher likeliness to be economically vulnerable, homeless, and self-medicating with substances that exacerbate heat intolerance, and the risk skyrockets. 

Recognizing this vulnerability, psychiatrists are calling for policy changes to offer better protection for those affected. In March 2023, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) issued a position statement on mental health and climate change, advocating for efforts to fund further research, improve infrastructure, and develop a response plan to address the mental health impacts of climate-related weather events.

As for the rest of the population, fear about climate change is on the rise. From 2018 to 2023, searches regarding climate anxiety increased by 4,590%. Effects can extend from stress to the development of depression, anxiety, PTSD, substance abuse, and suicide. Young people are particularly concerned, with more than 50% of surveyed 16 to 25 year olds in a study reporting to feel powerless, angry, and helpless. 

Forensic psychiatrist and EARTHDAY.org board member, Dr. Lise Van Susteren, is an expert on the mental health impacts of climate change. Trained by Al Gore himself to inform the public about global warming, she fights for both legal climate action and for collective action by mental health practitioners to address climate disruption for youth. With a team of these “climate-aware therapists,” she made the “EcoCyclopedia”—a resource that teaches the public about how to cope with the effects of climate change. Dr. Van Susteren’s work and the growing movement of climate-aware therapists offer a glimmer of hope for anyone experiencing climate anxieties. 

A Generation at Risk

Pediatricians are stressing the need to talk about climate change during routine check-ups, as the impacts of climate change on children’s health become more apparent. A growing body of research highlights how climate change disproportionately affects younger populations, heightening their vulnerability. 

For instance, excessive heat raises the risk of premature birth, leading to future respiratory and neurological problems. Infants are also among the most likely to die in a heatwave. Children are particularly sensitive to heatwaves because their bodies’ ability to regulate temperature and cool themselves is less developed. Plus, they breathe in more air per minute, making them more affected by the toxins in wildfire smoke. The adverse effects of climate change even extend to inhibiting their academic performance, particularly among households without access to air conditioning and children of color. 

In response to these challenges, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a policy statement on climate change that encourages pediatricians to talk to families about climate risks and educate them on strategies to protect themselves and their children. Only 4% of parents surveyed in 2021 reported that climate change was mentioned during their children’s checkups, reflecting massive discrepancies in conveying the gravity of the situation.

In an effort to increase access to child healthcare, pediatric psychologist Dr. Cierra Gromoff founded a telehealth startup that includes a function to identify local environmental risks by analyzing a patient’s home and school addresses. This innovative tool helps doctors anticipate potential health threats before they materialize. Dr. Gromoff also advocates for free resources to support families in managing these health risks and alleviating climate-related anxiety. 

With the effects of climate change infiltrating our lives, healthcare professionals are showing up as the everyday heroes we need. Their dedication to protecting global health is a reminder that building a healthier future will require all hands on deck. Let’s continue to lift up these medical professionals and spread environmental awareness, especially among the youth, so we can translate concern into action. Check out EARTHDAY.ORG’s Climate Education campaign for valuable resources to introduce environmental realities to children early on and train them to be the next generation of forward thinkers.

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