ADVOCATING FOR EACH OTHER & BUILDING COMMUNITY
Climate Change Advocacy
by LIBBY MIMS , MD
As a child , I spent summer weekends camping with my family and catching frogs along the banks of the Cahaba River in Alabama . In middle school , I joined the conservation club and led a campaign to educate my community about the risks of dumping trash in rivers and lakes . In college , I spent summers and school breaks hiking in nature . I especially loved hiking the John Muir trail in California among snowcapped mountains in the Sierra Nevadas .
As I entered medical school and residency , I never lost my love of nature ; I just spent more time indoors learning how to nurture patients and families instead . Throughout medical school , residency and now , I have cared for and continue to serve underserved populations , many of whom do not get to experience the outdoors in the same way I did as a child .
I see the structural racism that perpetuates inequities in the lives of my patients , like how redlining has segregated my patients into urban heat islands with worse air pollution . I see patients living in food deserts and suffering from food insecurity , which is now doubly threatened by an ever-warming climate . I see my own biracial sons , and I worry how systemic racism and a warming climate will intertwine to negatively impact their health . I chose to raise awareness about climate change , a topic that affects everyone ’ s health , because I care deeply about how it affects my patients , my children and especially populations who are already experiencing inequity .
The science is clear . Human activity , primarily the burning of fossil fuels , has led to an increase in global temperatures and resulted in the loss of natural habitats and biodiversity which directly harms human health . 1 Warming temperatures , changes in precipitation , deforestation and increasing severe weather threaten our health by affecting the food we eat , the water we
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