Researchers call attention to climate change warning it is the greatest threat to 50 years of public health gains globally (Watts, Adger, & Agnolucci, 2015). School children across the world are joining hands and following the lead of Greta Thunberg to demand environmental justice to preserve the safety of their future. The Alliance of Nurses for a Healthy Environment recommends that nurses move climate change concern to a high priority. The Alliance promotes advancing nurses literacy about climate as well as engaging stakeholders to take action. They also recommend building a “collective” support and action addressing climate change (https://envirn.org/nursing-collaborative/). The International Council of Nurses (ICN) policy statement advances nurses’ role globally to pressure governments to join forces to address the climate change outcomes. Additionally, ICN pushes an agenda for nurses individually to protect the environment (https://www.icn.ch/sites/default/files/inline-files/ICN%20PS%20Nurses%252c%20climate%20change%20and%20health%20FINAL%20.pdf).
Researchers have shown that many childhood cancers are directly related to environmental exposures. In California, childhood cases of leukemia, lymphoma, and brain or central nervous system cancers were attributed to tobacco smoke, residential exposures, and parental occupational exposures. These California cases represent annual costs of $18 million dollars and lifetime costs of $31 million dollars (Nelson et al., 2017). Are environmental exposures carefully assessed in school physicals to identify school children’s risks? Should the frequency of assessments be increased in high-risk areas?
What do all of these recommendations mean for school nurses? It means to start thinking locally. Start with an assessment locally. Is there an environmental justice committee? How much food waste is accumulated each day? How much single-use plastic is being used in the schools? Are there controls about school bus idling to limit diesel exhaust (Mazer, Vann, Lamanna, & Davison, 2014)? Does the school test for radon (Jones, Foster, & Berens, 2019)?
Environmental assessment and conservation should be part of every school nurse encounter with students. School nurses are developing skills in quality improvement and needs assessments are the beginning step with subsequent program development to meet the need. Environmental threats to student health are pervasive and need to be addressed. The Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility at the University of Minnesota has free resources for health-care providers, which are ready for use (https://globalhealthcenter.umn.edu/education/climatehealth).
Other countries are moving faster than the United States. Attending the School Nurse International Conference in Stockholm Sweden was an opportunity of a lifetime for me. I met school nurses from around the world and learned that schoolchildren around the world face many of the same problems. Throughout the trip in Scandinavia, I noticed corporate efforts at every level to address climate change including toiletries provided in permanent dispensers rather than single-use plastic containers, excellent public transportation, and dinners provided in appropriate sizes. Additionally 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, a climate activist in Sweden, was advancing her global climate activism. Because of Greta, children around the world are demanding we address climate justice. Greta’s address to the United Nations was so inspiring calling us to abandon hope and choose action Sweden (Greta Thunberg COP24 Speech). Greta Thunberg suggested that if adults do not want children missing school to protest, then adults should take on the protest mantle.
What does Greta’s charge have to do with school nursing, school health, practice and research? Everything!
Julia Muennich Cowell, PhD, RN, PHNA-BC, FAAN
Executive Editor
The Journal of School Nursing
References:
Jones, S. E., Foster, S., Berens, A. S. (2019). Radon testing status in schools by radon zone and school location and demographic characteristics: United States, 2014. The Journal of School Nursing, 35, 442–448. doi:10.1177/105984051878441
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Climate Change, School Health and School Nursing: A Call to Action
Julia Muennich Cowell, PhD, RN, PHNA-BC, FAAN
First Published November 10, 2019 Editorial Find
in PubMed
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