Clinicians For
Climate Action NJ
Training & Education Programs
Over the past 5 years, a wide range of climate related training programs designed specifically for health professionals has emerged. The focus of these programs varies considerably. With respect to audience, some are designed for those who are established in their careers, while others are designed for students or individuals in training.
Broadly, two places to look for helpful training programs are: the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education and the Association of American Medical Colleges.
Some example training opportunities:
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Climate & Equity: Climate and Health Equity Fellowship
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Impacts & Action: Yale School of Public Health
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Impacts & Action: Climate for Health
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Medical Curriculum: Medical Students for a Sustainable Future
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Healthcare Systems Climate Impact: Healthcare Without Harm
Climate & Health
In the mid-1980's, the Director of NASA's Institute for Space Studies, Dr. James Hansen, began testifying before the US Congress about the fact that carbon pollution from the burning of fossil fuels was radically altering the Earth's atmosphere - a change that would, if left unchecked, create massive shifts in weather patterns across the planet. Fast forward to 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that climate change had become the greatest threat to human health in the 21st century. Every major medical and health professional organization in the United States has since adopted a similar position.Besides the devastating impacts on the health of NJ citizens, common sense says that if we do not accelerate our response to this threat, the financial costs to our communities will grow exponentially - further burdening while our already troubled health care system.As healthcare professionals, we hold the position that society has a moral obligation to reduce carbon pollution as quickly as possible. As is being demonstrated every day in New Jersey and across the nation, those actions will yield myriad benefits - including cleaner air, protection of public health, creation of family-sustaining local jobs for low- and medium-income workers, and energy independence. There can be only one conclusion - implementing an equitable clean energy transition must be a top priority for all of us.
Effective Communication
Becoming an effective communicator around climate change requires a unique mindset. The scope is global, the impacts and solutions are complex, the topic is scary, and the timeline is measured in decades. Breakthroughs in cognitive science and psychology over the past 75 years show that those attributes make it particularly difficult for people to grasp the threat - a threat that scientists and others see clearly.
All of these factors, and more, mean that moving your audience in the direction you want will likely mean stepping out of your comfort zone. Whether talking about the health impacts of climate change or about ways to address the challenge, effective communication here requires that you start by being very clear about who your audience is and what you hope they take away from the information you will present.
For many health professionals, one of the biggest challenges is to understand that heavy reliance on data and facts as the primary avenue for swaying audiences is often ineffective. A more impactful approach weaves in broad concepts and, most importantly, stories that illuminate your ideas - including, when possible, personal experience. This foundational idea is true for most situations -whether delivering a speech, writing an op-ed, being interviewed by media, providing testimony, or talking with patients. Getting the mix right also requires careful consideration of the audience.
Health professionals have been talking about climate change, clean energy and related topics for more than a decade. Here are some of the best resources you can tap on what they have learned:
Health Impacts of Climate Change
Around 2018 - largely because of a nationwide push from the public health community - there was recognition within the media sector that they were largely missing the real story of climate change. At the same time, universities, professional organizations, and other groups began to recognize that scope, scale and speed of the threat. As a result, 100's of thousands of articles, reports, papers and more can be easily found on the web today. One of the outcomes of that change is critical to note: impacts on mental dominate the conversation across the globe. One powerful example is this short video about young adults.
Whether looking for broad picture information or diving in on details, a good place to start looking for more information are the links below. These climate website provide accurate and current information, across a wide range of climate and health topics - broad to specific.