experience for oncology patients during environmental disasters (wildfires) and the COVID-19 pandemic. However, telehealth will be compromised during power outages from storms, so additional creative solutions will be required to ensure continuity of cancer care.
Because severe weather events will make it more difficult to engage in face-to-face encounters, medical events will be postponed, cancelled, or presented in virtual formats. Although large-scale virtual meetings with real-time presentations and enduring presentations, slides, and videos are possible (The Community Oncology Alliance, ASCO, and the American Association for Cancer Research all reported increased numbers of attendees in 2020), the full impacts are not yet known. An editorial in The Lancet Oncology15 stated, “As a result, innumerable opportunities for discussion and collaboration will be lost, the latest research will not be presented, and patients will subsequently be affected by the delay in dissemination of information on the latest treatment to their doctors.”15(p467)
So, yes, we owe it to our families, ourselves, and especially to our patients with cancer, to be concerned about climate change. As respected, trusted messengers, physicians play a unique role in addressing climate change.15 We can advocate for our patients by supporting health care systems in developing ways to reduce the health risks of climate change.24 We can promote healthy behaviors and policies with low environmental impact, support policies to reduce the environmental footprint of society in general and the health care system in particular, advocate for appropriate preparedness for expected increased emergence of new pathogens, and undertake research and education on climate change and health.25 If we promote “actions to combat climate change and lessen our use of fossil fuels [we] could prevent cancers and improve cancer outcomes, [and] we might see . . . the attainment of our mission to reduce suffering from cancer grow nearer.”16(p242)
© 2020 by American Society of Clinical Oncology
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
Conception and design: All authors
Collection and assembly of data: Joan H. Schiller, Steven D. Averbuch
Data analysis and interpretation: All authors
Manuscript writing: All authors
Final approval of manuscript: All authors
Accountable for all aspects of the work: All authors
AUTHORS' DISCLOSURES OF POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
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