The Health Impacts of a Changing Climate

Ethan Sims, MD

Climate change has been described as the greatest threat to human health by the editors of more than 200 medical journals, through extreme heat, severe wildfires with toxic smoke, increased frequency of floods, droughts, and other natural disasters, which have direct and indirect consequences for our health.  In this talk, we will explore the many ways our health is affected by the changing climate and how the healthcare sector contributes to the changes in climate.  We will also begin to explore steps you can take in your practice to provide great care that is also better for our planet and often more cost effective.

 At the end of this session, participants will be able to understand that:

1. The climate is changing, in large part due to carbon dioxide emissions and we will document changes we are seeing now and project changes anticipated by climatologists for the future.
2. Extreme heat is the greatest threat to human health and we will show how increasing temperatures have worsened human health, including increased risk of stroke, heart attack, renal failure, anger and violent crime. We will also examine and describe how wildfire smoke, droughts, floods, toxic algae, and emerging infections will impact our community health and medical practice now and into the future.
3. Your dermatologic practice will be impacted by a changing climate and we will describe a few conditions that you will be more likely to see with greater frequency in your practice. 
4. Healthcare is responsible for about 8 percent of US greenhouse gas emissions and we will explore how some of the ways we work can be improved to reduce our impact while maintaining great patient care.