The world’s climate is changing. According to the latest Lancet Countdown report led by Romanello and colleagues, heat-related mortality has increased by 63% since the 1990s, and extreme heat exposure contributed to 640 billion lost labor hours in 2024. The World Health Organization warns that climate change is a health threat multiplier and projects 250,000 additional deaths per year between 2030 and 2050. Most of these deaths will be due to malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress. The United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention echoes these concerns, citing multiple negative health impacts of climate change including food insecurity, food and waterborne diarrheal disease, and vector-borne diseases.Healthcare workers play a critical role in mitigating these risks by engaging in health-focused conversations associated with climate-related factors.
Politics shape health concerns
A recent study in Hampton Roads Virginia found that 62% of residents were concerned about the impact of climate change on health. This level of concern varied based on political ideology. Regardless of ideological beliefs, the health impacts of dirty air, contaminated water, and rising temperatures are well documented and affect individuals across all communities. Yet when government actions are embedded in partisan conflict, such as removing the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding, which empowered the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to enforce emissions standards, it’s difficult to separate issues from political identity.
However, when we shift our conversations from broad environmental policy to local public health, the political divide begins to close. We don’t need consensus on international carbon treaties to agree that our children should be able to play outside during allergy season without relying on an inhaler. We don’t need to share a political party to recognize that our elderly neighbors and outdoor workers deserve protection from increasingly harmful, record-breaking summer heat.
Negative health effects occur independent of whether individuals acknowledge or believe in the underlying cause of those effects. Because climate change is frequently perceived through a political lens, using certain terms or language may distract some audiences and lead them to disengage. Keeping this in mind, clinicians speaking with individual patients and policymakers should purposefully depoliticalize their conversations related to climate and health.
Depoliticizing conversations
Recognizing the role of politics in patient conversations is essential to building trust and influencing health behaviors. Political division can be a significant barrier to health. A key action to counter this division is building trust between clinicians and patients by centering conversations on the health impacts of climate. Avoiding politicized language can help facilitate discussions that are focused on shared health outcomes and evidence‑based care.
Evidence for global warming is undeniable and the health risks are well documented. However, trust between patients and providers isn’t built solely on scientific evidence but rather human connection including open communication, active listening, and empathy. This trusting relationship can provide the basis for transparent discussions about how the impacts of dirty air, contaminated water, and rising temperatures affect health. Clinicians should focus on health impacts while avoiding politically charged language surrounding climate change.
One method to communicate with patients that removes political noise is to talk about common values such as prevention and protection and then offer specific guidance. For example, discussing the importance of using sunscreen and reducing time in direct sun to prevent future skin cancers helps the patient consider preventive measures. While global warming may lead to increases in these cancers, the primary concern of the clinician is to encourage the patient to take preventive action. Depoliticized conversations are important to ensure patients remain receptive, engaged, and responsive to health guidance.
Reframing climate change through a health lens
Depoliticalizing healthcare conversations is challenging since health policy is created through political processes. These processes determine how healthcare is funded, regulated, and conducted. However, partisan politics can introduce harmful aspects into policy, such as discouraging well-established evidence-based practice for prevention, leading to the marginalization of vulnerable populations. Healthcare experts can be powerful agents of change by advocating for independent regulatory agencies empowered to develop and implement policy insulated from political influence.
Climate experts recommend centering conversations on health as an effective strategy to address climate change. Talking about climate change through a health lens makes the issue more personal, immediate, and relatable. We may disagree about the politics linked to climate change conversations, but everyone understands threats to their own health and their family’s well‑being. Resources are available to guide more effective conversations focused on shared values, health impacts, and solutions that motivate understanding and action rather than debate. We recommend joining ClimateRx for support in starting conversations that educate patients about the impacts of climate change on their health.
Health professionals must advocate for non-partisan climate-health policies. Healthcare workers, particularly nurses, are consistently rated among the most trusted professions. Because healthcare professionals are widely trusted sources on climate and health, our engagement with both patients and policymakers is essential to practices and policies that support better health outcomes. Protecting the health, safety, and well-being of our families and communities depends on these conversations.
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