Climate Change and Cancer Care: A Policy Statement From ASCO
This week has another position/policy statement from a clinician group - this time from ASCO. It's a really interesting piece that acknowledges the importance of climate change, the impact climate change has had and will have on the delivery on cancer services, the role of equity, and, importantly, the role of cancer care in also contributing to climate change. There is also guidance provided for the future, including thinking about how to design meetings and conference with their climate impact in mind.
How Clinicians Can Lead Climate Action to Protect Patients and the Planet
This article is published as a blog post by Commonwealth Fund describes some of the reasons why and how clinicians can get involved with climate change advocacy and work. In particular it situates action on climate action within the profession of medicine, appealing to medical ethics as well as providing quality care and safety. It highlights actions that individual clinicians can take (i.e., choice of inhalers to prescribe), involvement at the hospital/centre level, within their clinical community, as well as trying to steer policy toward sustainable and climate friendly objectives.
As a bonus article, an interesting analysis published in Environmental Research about the value of tree canopies in urban centres! I'm already deviating from my initial aim, but I'm a big fan of this type of policy/intervention that indirectly may improve health.