TEXAS PHYSICIANS AND OTHER HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS SUPPORT ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE

As Texas physicians and healthcare professionals, we the undersigned call on members of the Texas Congressional Delegation to recognize climate change as a health emergency and to work with government agencies and our local communities and businesses to prioritize action to address how climate change is already impacting public health.

BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR URGENT ACTION

Climate change poses one of the greatest threats to human health in our lifetimes. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has repeatedly issued warnings about the significant consequences of global warming. As they and the vast majority of climate scientists around the world have stated, urgent actions are needed now to curb the rise in global temperatures and to prevent ecological, public health and other societal catastrophes.

In Texas, we are already feeling the effects of increasing temperatures and climate-related health emergencies. Our ER physicians care for folks when climate disasters occur such as hurricanes, tornados, flooding, and wildfires. Our primary care physicians and cardiologists have to deal with increased and worsening heart disease due to ozone action days and increased heat. Psychiatrists have to deal with fatalism and depression that occurs with the increasingly frequent and severe natural disasters. And we struggle to care for patients affected by increasing pandemics and other health crises.

In the coming years, Texans will experience rising seas, retreating shorelines, more coastal storms like Hurricane Harvey, rainstorms and tornadoes, increasing wildfires, more frequent and severe droughts, and worsening air pollution leading to premature death from heart and lung disease.

Please read and sign the Texas Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) "Call to Action on Climate and Health 2020:  https://texaspsr.org/call-to-action/. 

It just takes a minute to add your name to more than 150 Texas physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals, urging Congress to enact clean energy legislation in the interest of public health! 

Nurses are key to championing these issues! 

Also, if you want to take action and you are interested in writing a letter to your local newspaper, or getting involved with outreach to local elected officials, please contact Steve McKee, Texas PSR’s Executive Director at steve.mckee@texaspsr.org."

CLICK HERE to view the petition to sign and share.  Thank you.