by Dr. Marilyn M. Singleton, America Outloud:
Climate change has been the excuse for the imposition of government regulations and restrictions on how we live our daily lives.
In 2020 California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order to have all new passenger and short-distance shipping vehicle sales in the state be all-electric by 2035. The policy piles onto regulations adopted in the state to take all of its commercial trucks electric by 2045.
By 2024, 35 percent of all new cars sold must be electric vehicles (EVs). That requirement will increase to 68 percent by 2030, and 100 percent by 2035.
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This is a lofty goal considering that today California has 31 million cars overall with only one million EVs. Ironically, in the summer of 2022, the governor asked Californians not to charge their EVs to spare the overstressed energy grid. Of course, we will have to quandary about what to do with the spent lithium-ion batteries.
The U.S. healthcare sector emits more greenhouse gas emissions than any other nation. Given the widespread use of disposable products, it is reasonable for offices and hospitals to improve and protect the environment by reducing the use of paper and plastic products. To maintain cleanliness, will we return to the prior practice of sterilizing reusable items requiring the additional cost of hiring more employees to accomplish the cleaning?
Expanding telemedicine and digital modalities have been offered as another solution. Indeed, eliminating commuting costs will contribute to saving the planet. But what is more important for the patients? Will saving the environment trump good medicine?
A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that patients who had telemedicine follow-ups after an Emergency Department visit were more likely to return to the ED and be hospitalized than patients with in-person follow-ups. Ultimately, this would add to medical care costs for a repeat in-person visit and would add to the carbon footprint.
Medical schools are starting to add climate change courses to their curricula. According to the University of Massachusetts Medical School, “[c]limate change presents an unprecedented threat to human health and human life. Record temperatures, surges in natural disasters, changes in ecosystems, and disruptions in infrastructure will continue to grow throughout our lifetime.”
According to Renee Salas, MD, MPH, MS, a physician at Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital, “climate-and-health training is “fundamental to the mission of medicine.” According to Harvard’s School of Public Health, climate change threatens the ability of medical providers to deliver care due to extreme storms that interrupt care as well as the health harms of air pollution. Additionally, some observers have predicted future food shortages due to climate change will harm patients.
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