Happy Earth Month!

April 22, 2025, marks the 55th year of Earth Day, a movement that started as a protest against pollution and has grown into a monumental global demand to fight climate change and environmental decline.  

Countless studies have shown that a changing climate is directly corelated to human health. Asthma and other respiratory diseases are higher in urban areas that experience heightened air pollution and ozone accumulation, which is fueled by warming temperatures. Climate change is also causing extreme weather events – such as wildfires, droughts and strong storm events – to become more unpredictable, posing other great threats to human health and well-being.  

However, there is always hope! Countless organizations have committed their missions to protecting the environment and advocating for change. One of those organizations is the ACOI! The ACOI Committee on Climate and Health is devoted to preventing illness through recognizing and providing education on the connection between climate change and human health. This committee is full of passionate ACOI members with great knowledge on environmental and human health. This group is led by Mary Schaefer Badger, DO, FACOI, who inspires me and countless others to be mindful of environmental topics, as well as my own ecological footprint. I would encourage you to explore her publication titled “The Intersection of Geriatrics, Climate Change, and Wilderness Medicine: Education is Critical” in the journal Wilderness & Environmental Medicine. I greatly admire the work this committee does and have thoroughly enjoyed learning from their newsletter articles. There is much value in the information they share, and I hope you all engage with their messaging.

While environmental topics can seem daunting, every action makes a difference. For example, by implementing one plant-based day per week, you can save over 100 gallons of water and keep eight pounds of carbon from the atmosphere (Conzachi, 2021).  

The Committee on Climate and Health has kindly shared with me their favorite personal environmental actions. I hope that this information can inspire new or continued action in readers of this newsletter.  

Dr. Badger is passionate about avoiding carbon emissions through biking her nine-mile commute to and from work. She also promotes this action to her patients, who are encouraged to exercise through biking for both a benefit to their health and the environment. The World Health Organization (2022) shares that biking can contribute to sizable decreases in the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer-related mortality. Combining these health impacts with a decrease in carbon emissions is a major win.  

Similar to Dr. Badger’s decrease in carbon emissions, Dr. Sam Snyder is taking advantage of his city’s public transportation services rather than drive his car.

Dr. Stephen Greenstein actively eliminates plastics from his daily routine and advocates for plastic reduction. Most single-use plastics are created through the burning of fossil fuels, so this action combats carbon emission and plastic pollution.  

OMS Aarsh Sheth has challenged himself to take shorter showers to create less water waste. He utilizes an ‘annoying’ timer to keep them short. It’s estimated that every one minute in the shower uses two and half gallons of water (Heggie, 2022). As the minutes add up, that’s a lot of water going down the drain!  

My daughter is also passionate about the environment and has found value in regularly searching for sustainable swaps in household items and clothing. These swaps range anywhere from reusable or refillable items to those that are made from sustainably sourced materials. I am personally excited by my new plastic-free dishwasher detergent. I no longer have plastic waste created from using bottles or detergent pods, which have been found to release microplastics into wastewater.  

I hope that you will enter Earth Month with a new or renewed hope for environmental change. Not only are ecosystems being impacted by climate change, but also our patients. Using your voice to advocate for environmental protection is just another way we can serve our medical community!  

Sources:

Conzachi, K. (2021, March 18). Meatless Mondays: "less meat, less heat!" University of Colorado Boulder Environmental Center. https://www.colorado.edu/ecenter/2021/03/18/meatless-mondays-less-meat-less-heat

Cycling and walking can help reduce physical inactivity and air pollution, save lives and mitigate climate change. (2022, June 7). World Health Organization Europe. Retrieved March 18, 2025 from https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/07-06-2022-cycling-and-walking-can-help-reduce-physical-inactivity-and-air-pollution--save-lives-and-mitigate-climate-change

Heggie, J. (2022, February 28). Five ways to wash with less water. National Geographic Creative Works. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/paid-content-five-ways-to-wash-with-less-water