Depending on your geographic location, no doubt you have been affected by an extreme weather event. The American West continues to experience a megadrought-a period of dryness that has spanned more than two decades. For our West Coast colleagues, the new year has been equally unkind, characterized by destructive flooding. The morning news consistently reports on tornadoes ravaging the Midwest and the South, critically destroying public health infrastructure.
Relative to these extreme weather events, it almost seems preposterous to talk about the extreme weather event where I live in the Northeast: the lack of snow. While we generally see about two to three feet of snow during the winter months, to date we have had only an alarming 5 inches! A part of me is rejoicing in the fact that I don't have to get up in the middle of the night to shovel my driveway, be concerned about canceled classes, or worry about driving in the snow. But putting my egocentric mindset aside, this snow drought is climate chaos in action. The downstream impact of a snowless winter will be subtle to the individual yet significant to the ecosystem. Without snow-filled winters, replenishment of lakes and streams, groundwater, and vegetation will all be affected; in short, water will be in short supply. Borrelia burgdorferi, the tick responsible for Lyme disease, is killed off by the frost in winter, without which we can expect to see an increase in disease this summer. Snowmelt, or lack of it, significantly affects soil moisture and vegetation, which in turn will affect the food supply. The most plausible explanation for this situation is greenhouse gas emissions. These emissions come from the burning of fossil fuels in our everyday activities like driving a car. They then get trapped in the Earth's atmosphere, leading to an increase in temperatures and extreme weather patterns.
Nurses are already seeing the impact of extreme weather patterns in clinical practice. The summer of 2022 was the hottest on record, with temperatures above average across the majority of the United States. High heat exposures, heat stress, and heat-related deaths are increasing, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And as was well documented in a research article by Sun and colleagues (BMJ, 2021), days of extreme heat are associated with a higher risk of ED visits for any cause, heat-related illness, renal disease, and mental disorders across the age spectrum. Without snow this year-and if the same weather patterns continue-it is likely that we will see a worsening of the public's health.
According to the World Health Organization, climate change is the single biggest health threat on the planet and is an important moderator of social determinants of health. Our cover art this month speaks volumes about the harmful effects of greenhouse gas emissions as seen through the eyes of the 14-year-old artist. In this issue, senior editor Corinne McSpedon reports on a recent virtual policy dialogue hosted by the American Academy of Nursing's Expert Panel on Environmental and Public Health. During the event, nurse leaders and other experts discussed this impending crisis and the important role that nurses play in creating personal and professional change designed to protect public health.
McSpedon's coverage of the meeting is important reading for every nurse. It begins with a dialogue and acknowledgment of the role our health care system plays in contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and calls for nurses to use their influence to create change. As noted in a brilliant paper by Bauman and Shaw (Nursing Science Quarterly, 2022) on how nursing organizations are changing the global health landscape: "Nursing is more than a job but a career that includes a global community of dedicated healthcare workers and part of the solution to global challenges that face the world's population and the planet." As nurses we must use our influence to be part of the solution.