I think most people in our communities care deeply about passing a healthy world on to our children. Sometimes the problems and challenges of climate change and air pollution can seem like too much for any one person to handle. Those of you who listen to this podcast know that I am a big believer in everyone putting in their little grain of sand to move things in the right direction. Some of us can put small grains of sand on the scale, and some of us can place boulders.
Dr. Mary Rice MD, MPH of Harvard University is one of those people who has incorporated combatting the effects of climate change deeply into her career as a physician and scientist. I am excited to bring you our conversation in the podcast accompanying this post.
You are going to notice some very different things in the podcast episode for this post. Primarily, it is the very first Air Health Our Health podcast recorded with a live audience. I work in healthcare, and there is a growing recognition in our field that we all contribute to climate change in our work. That can be a tough thing to recognize, but it also gives us power to actually do something. Two years ago, when I first attended the meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians, we had a session on the last day of the conference in the afternoon, a time when many people are already starting to drift away. Only two years later, there was a great deal of energy to tackle climate change and air pollution, starting with a keynote address by Dr Vanessa Kerry, a critical care doctor who is now the WHO Director-General Special Envoy for Climate Change and Health.
We had sessions on everything from air pollution to wildfires, as well as on reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of our pulmonary and critical care medicine practices. This podcast was even mentioned in the Opening Ceremony of the conference, and we were able to record this episode and had a great deal of thoughtful participation. I open it with a brief history of the origins of the Air Health Our Health podcast, and then we dive right into interview and discussion. I hope you listen to the episode and share!
We covered a wide range of topics, from how to engage with policy issues, how to talk to patients about air cleaning technology, how to get started in your work place on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. People shared how hard it is to know where to get started, and I think this will be a topic of ongoing discussion in the coming years. We also discussed the climate impact of these meetings where we all gather and how to decide when travel is needed or when a remote approach would be better.
I have to confess, I was nervous about doing a recording in front of an audience, but it was wonderful to both see familiar faces and meet new people who want to engage in clean air and climate advocacy in healthcare.
I am sure this energy exists in every field. I went to talks on greening the supply chain for healthcare, and I know that parallel efforts are happening in every industry. I hope there is a groundswell of energy across every workplace and community to know that we are the ones we have been waiting for. We can become paralyzed thinking that we have to wait for a global political body or the federal government to take action to save our planet. It’s not true. There is so much we can do together in our families, communities, counties and states. While having the leaders of our countries engaged in climate change science is helpful and vital, we can continue to push forward whether they help or not.
To Do-
1- Listen to the Clean Air and Climate Advocacy for Busy People episode for ideas on how to get started wherever you are.
2- Scroll the Air Health Our Health podcast feed for climate and clean air concerns that speak to you, and seek out local community efforts to help.
3- If you work in healthcare, learn more about reducing greenhouse gasses from organizations such as Healthcare without Harm. See References for additional options.
4- If you don’t work in healthcare, these issues also affect you. There are definitely ways to make your workplace more climate friendly. Seek out those in your industry who are already doing this and take it to your own workplace. It can be hard to get started, but we can all start by starting. Hopefully every industry will be providing roadmaps to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
5- I am so grateful to the American College of Chest Physicians for providing a form to record this podcast with a live audience. Please consider a donation to the Chest Foundation, which supports everything from research to community partnerships and helping the next generation of clinicians.
6- Finally, please consider leaving this podcast a 5 star review wherever you listen to podcasts. I’ve been bad about asking for that, but the podcast experts say it helps people discover the podcast. Also consider sharing an episode with a friend to spread the word about the importance of cleaning up the air and combating climate change.
TLDR= Don't Light Things on Fire and Breathe them into your Lungs
References & Resources-
See Mary Rice Testimony re: Greenhouse Gas regulations to US Congress
Adibi A, Barn P, Shellington EM, Harvard S, Johnson KM, Carlsten C. High-Efficiency Particulate Air Filters for Preventing Wildfire-related Asthma Complications: A Cost-Effectiveness Study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2024 Jan 15;209(2):175-184. PMID: 37917367.
Bebinger, M. “Has Your Doctor Talked to You About Climate Change?” NPR. July 13 2019.
Hansel NN et al. Randomized Clinical Trial of Air Cleaners to Improve Air Quality and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Health: Results of the CLEAN AIR Study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2022 Feb 15; 205(4):421-430. PMID 34449285
Holder et al. Impact of do-it-yourself air cleaner design on the reduction of simulated wildfire smoke in a controlled chamber environment. Indoor Air 2022 Nov 32(11):e13163 PMID 36437679
Information from the Session I mentioned on Reducing GHG Emissions in ICU
A Beginners Guide to Sustainability in the ICU
- Sustainability toolkit evolved from the ANZICS 2020 NZ ASM and Australian Quality and Safety committee sustainability e-conference
- Excellent overview with deep dives in a variety of topics, and potentially some hot takes! (eg is “early goal directed therapy” bad for patients and the planet?)
- Action guide to help healthcare organizations reduce their carbon footprint and protect communities from climate threats.
- Covers six domains contributing to GHG emissions in healthcare:
- Building energy
- Transportation
- Anesthetic gas
- Pharmaceuticals and chemicals
- Medical devices and supplies
- Food
- Identifies core and elective measures to track progress and critical strategies for reducing GHG in each domain.
- Includes examples of what health systems have done to reduce GHG
- Includes a collection of resources and tools to support implementation
Greenhouse Gas Protocol– putting everyone on the same page, common forms of corporate and public GHG emissions
- Has a host of Tools and Resources
- Tools and framework for making business case for sustainability
