Climate Change - Sarfaty

www.medsocietiesforclimatehealth.org

Medical Alert!Climate Change is Harming

our Health

Mona Sarfaty, MD MPH, FAAFP, DirectorMedical Society Consortium on Climate and Health

Fairfax, Virginia www.medsocietiesforclimatehealth.orgFacebook: Medical Society Consortium

Twitter: @docsforclimate

http://www.medsocietiesforclimatehealth.org/

www.medsocietiesforclimatehealth.orgwww.medsocietiesforclimatehealth.org

Disclosures




Outline

• The science of climate change

• Medical Society Consortium on Climate & Health (AAFP is a founding member)

• How climate change is affecting our health

• What the public and physicians think about this

• How family physicians and state chapters could be involved



Science of Climate Change: the Composition of our Atmosphere

• Key Fact: The light from the Sun alone isn’t sufficient to warm the earth; the atmosphere is needed to retain warmth. It is the trace gases that are responsible for retaining the warmth.

• Nitrogen accounts for 78% of the atmosphere, oxygen 21%, argon 0.9%.

• Gases like carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides, methane, ozone, water vapor are trace gases.

• Without H2O & CO2, worldwide average surface temperature would be –18oC (0⁰ F) not 15⁰C (59⁰ F).



• 1824: Joseph Fourier established

existence of natural greenhouse effect

• 1859: John Tyndall confirmed heat-trapping properties of greenhouse gases

• 1890: Svante Arrhenius did first estimate of global temperature increase from fossil fuel use

• Today: 97% of climate scientists say that we are experiencing global warming

Scientists Have Known C02 Could Warm the Climate for about 200 years



Global Average Annual Temp and CO2

NCA 2014



Where did the C02 Come From?

• Scientists have detailed records of how much coal, oil, and natural gas is burned each year and how much CO2 is absorbed, on average, by the oceans and the land surface.

• These analyses show that about 45% of the CO2 emitted by human activities remains in the atmosphere.

• Also, a forensic-style analysis of the CO2 in the atmosphere reveals the chemical “fingerprint” of carbon from fossil fuels (Carbon 14 dating).



Separating Human and Natural Causes

National Climate Assessment 2014



Report Released March 15, 2017

• With the launch of the

Medical Society Consortium

on Climate and Health (19

societies/>550,000 doctors)

• Consortium mission is to

inform the public &

policymakers about the

harmful health effects of

climate change and the

benefits of climate solutions.

• Why did we release this?




Why was this Report Released?

• Most Americans (70%) understand that climate change is real and are concerned about it.

• But they see climate change as a faraway threat, in both time and place, and as something that threatens the other people or the environment and not them.

• Only a minority understand believe that climate change is a threat to Americans or to them personally.

• The reality is climate change is already causing health problems in communities in every region of our nation. “Medical Alert!” fills that gap in awareness.



Some Americans Face Greater Risk

The health of any American can be harmed by climate change, but some face greater risk than others.

• Children

• Student who play sports

• Pregnant women

• Elderly individuals

• People with chronic illnesses and allergies

• People with limited resources



Why Health Harms?

• Heat

• Extreme Weather

• Disease carrying vectors

• Threats to Mental Health

• Air Pollution (including pollen particles)

• Threats to nutrition, food security, potable water



Isaac’s Story Dr. Samantha Ahdoot

PediatricianDr. Ahdoot’s 11 year old son, Isaac, was at band camp when she got a call from the ER—Isaac had collapsed while playing clarinet.

He experienced heat illness.That day was part of a record-settingheatwave in Washington, DC;

the heat index reached > 120⁰



Focus on Heat and Children Young children don’t regulate their body temperatures like adults do and spend more time outdoors.

Emergency room visits for heat illnesses increased by 133 percent between 1997 and 2006. Almost half of these patients were children and adolescents.









Dr. Claude Tellis’ Story, Retired Critical Care, Aug ‘ 16

• Baton Rouge was hit with a “thousand year flood” event—a storm that has only a one-tenth of one percent chance of occurring in any given year—it rained in sheets for days.

• Worst natural disaster since Hurricane Sandy

• 13 people died, the coast guard rescued 30,000 people, and 10,000 people ended up in shelters.



A Battered City

• Governor declared state of emergency: homes/buildings damaged (230,000 people)• Months later, homes still gutted, fridges,

washing machines, chairs piled on roadsides.

• This was a health crisis for many. Some fleeing their flooding homes lost their medications for hypertension, diabetes, and heart problems. Dr. Tellis and others worked with pharmacies to get these re-issued.

• Many people reported stress, depression and anxiety in the weeks and months that followed.

• And long after the storm passed, some teachers reported children who felt so anxious and afraid when it rained that they needed counseling.



Mental Health and Climate Change

People exposed to the worst extreme weather events also experience serious mental health consequences including, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), increases in suicidal thoughts and behavior, substance abuse.



Another Extreme……Drought

• Decreased food crops

• Water shortages

• Wildfires

Increased 60% so far in 2017

2014 Lake Erie Algae bloom



Story of Dr. John Meredith Emergency Physician

Eastern Carolina University June 2008, a wildfire devastated eastern North Carolina.

Starting in the midst of the state’s worst drought, the Evans Road Wildfire burned more than 45,000 acres and cost $20 million to battle.

Fire burned three long months that summer and plumes of smoke carrying dangerous particles covered the eastern side of the state and beyond.

Researchers saw this fire as an opportunity to learn more about the harms to our health from air pollution resulting from wildfires.

They studied two sets of counties in North Carolina: those that were affected by the smoke and those that were not. They tallied emergency room visits for respiratory conditions, including asthma, pneumonia, and common respiratory infections, as well heart attacks and other cardiac conditions.



The Comparison of Counties

• People living in counties affected by the plume had a 50 percent increase in the trips to emergency rooms from respiratory illness like Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), pneumonia, bronchitis.

• The smoke caused a spike in emergency department visits for heart disease.



Map shows for howlong ragweed

pollen season haschanged from 1995 to 2005. Many people are allergic to Ragweed.

http://www.ars.usda.gov/ & U.S. National Climate Assessment



http://www.ars.usda.gov/


Health Effect: Spread of Disease by Ticks and Mosquitos



Story of Dr. Nitin Damle, Internist, President, American College of

Physicians “It’s not a surprise that over the past five years, my Rhode Island internal medicine practice has seen a rise in the incidence of tick-borne diseases, including Lyme disease and other infections.

My physician colleagues used to treat two or three cases a month during tick season; now each of us sees 40 to 50 new cases during each tick season.”

The blacklegged ticks, the carriers of Lyme disease, thrive in warm, muggy weather. In Rhode Island, winters are now warmer and shorter, the tiny, sesame seed-sized insects have more time to bite humans and spread Lyme disease.

Tick season used to be relegated to summer; it now spans spring and autumn. And this isn’t limited to the typical tick hotspot states.



What Do Doctors Think?

• Surveys of medical societies produced similar results

• They know that climate change is occurring and that humans are mostly causing it

• They think it’s directly relevant to patient care; 85% think it’s harming their own

• They feel that physicians should be involved



What do physicians want?

• They wanted their societies to speak out

• They indicated that doctors have a responsibility to educate the public about the health impacts of climate change….and have a responsibility to educate their patients

• Want CME for themselves and med students!

• Doctors should lead on environmental sustainability in their workplaces.

• The Consortium was founded to enable these.



What is the solution: clean energy

• Embrace clean renewable energy that does not produce carbon dioxide or methane as a byproduct at home and at work.

Energy production: solar, wind, geothermal are all cleaner…They don’t pollute the air or the water. This can be purchased from suppliers in many areas.

“Green your office” [MyGreenDoc.org]

• Pursue energy efficiency. Right now we could reduce

energy use by 25-40% !!



What You Can Do in Practice to Offer Health Benefits

• Diets with more vegetables and less meat are healthier and produce less methane (if organic, they even sequester carbon)

• Active transportation (walking, biking, public transit) is better for your health and leaves the air cleaner

• Protect or plant forests as quickly as possible. This helps sequester carbon. Also, cities with more trees & cooling greenery protect people from dangerous heat.

• Tell your patients how to protect themselves from the increases in dangerous heat, longer allergy seasons, extreme weather, diseases carried by ticks/mosquitos



What You Can Do in your State AFPChapter or in the AAFP

• Support the formation of an AAFP Member Interest Group (form is on the table with the evaluations)

• Include a climate change presentation in your chapter’s CME meeting ([email protected])

• Put the Medical Alert! report on your website

• Write/publish a piece in your state Family Physician magazine

• Adopt a climate change policy for your AFP chapter

• Pursue a relevant issue at the state level



What about legislative work?

• Ask candidates for governor in 36 states in the upcoming election about their plan for addressing climate change

• Be like Virginia: ask your friendliest legislators for a bill requiring a plan to protect health infrastructure & people from climate change

• Watch out & oppose anti-competitive efforts to squash renewable energy growth in your state

• Support efforts to create greater energy efficiency



What do your colleagues have to say?

https://youtu.be/6UzubShRYAI


https://youtu.be/6UzubShRYAI


More Clean Renewable Energy is Available So are routes to Energy Efficiency




Low Fossil Fuel Transportation is Healthy



Mediterranean Diets are Healthier All of these become more scarce in an extreme climate.



Thank Youwww.medsocietiesforclimatehealth.orgFacebook: Medical Society Consortium

Twitter: @docsforclimate#climateandhealth


Date post:	22-Jan-2018
Category:	Healthcare
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Climate Change - Sarfaty

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