Planet Over Profits: The Health Impacts of Environmental Crisis & What Nurses Can Do

Course Description

This course examines the impacts of human-driven disruption of the natural environment on human health and health care, from devastating extreme weather events to the spread of novel infectious diseases and increased exposure to toxic pollutants.

The class will explore how climate change impacts the health of patients, the working conditions of nurses, and public health. We will consider how and why environmental health risks are increasing for everyone while disproportionately impacting under-resourced communities. We will also look at how nurses and other health justice advocates can and already are responding to environmental crisis and discuss strategies for building a just transition to a more sustainable and healthy future.