Mark Siemon, PhD, RN, PHNA-BC, CPH, CNE Dr. Mark Siemon is an Assistant Professor of Nursing at Southern Utah University. He began his career as a Public Health Nurse/Epidemiologist at the Central District Health 
Department in Boise, Idaho. Siemon served as a Public Health Nurse with American Indian communities from 1996-2008 in Arizona and New Mexico. As a Commissioned Officer with the U.S. Public Health Service working in Chinle and Tsaile, AZ and with the Pueblo of San Felipe in New Mexico, Siemon helped to establish a tribally-administered health department focused on health promotion and disease prevention. Siemon earned his dual master’s degree in public health and community health nursing at the University of New Mexico (UNM) and later his PhD in nursing at the same institution. In 2008, Siemon was awarded a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Fellowship with the UNM Nursing and Health Policy Collaborative.
Resources:
- Nursing faculty’s perceptions of climate change and sustainability (Amerson, et al., 2022)
- Including Sustainability Issues In Nurse Education: A Comparative Study of First Year Student Nurses’ Attitudes In Four European Countries (Richardson et al., 2015)
- National Indian Health Board’s Climate Ready Tribes initiative
- Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals
- Sustainability resources from the Indian Health Service
- As Colorado River dries, the US teeters on the brink of larger water crisis (Propublica, August 2022)
- Facing the Future of a Shrinking Lake Powell (RadioWest, August 2022) and The State and Fate of the Great Salt Lake, Part IV (RadioWest, September 2022)
- The IRA brings new opportunities for health care’s climate action (Health Care Without Harm, September 2022)
- How the IRA can help decarbonize the health care industry (Stat News, September 2022)
- Longer enviro-themed reads: Desert Solitaire (Edward Abbey, 1968 – nonfiction) and Monkey Wrench Gang (Edward Abbey, 1975 – fiction); Crossroads (Jonathan Franzen, 2021 – fiction)
- footprint by income (2022)
About the Nurses’ Climate Challenge Series: The School of Nursing Commitment
Brought to you by the Nurses for Healthy Environments Podcast, this special 2022 Nurses Climate Challenge series elevates nursing faculty leading their institutions in bringing climate and health to nursing students and beyond. Listen in as Nurses Climate Challenge founder Shanda Demorest, registered nurse and outdoor enthusiast, interviews nursing faculty inspiring others to take climate action. Co-sponsored by ANHE and Health Care Without Harm, the Nurses Climate Challenge is a national campaign with the goal of empowering nurses to educate 50,000 health professionals about the health impacts of climate change by the end of 2022.
Shanda Demorest, Guest Host of the School of Nursing Commitment Podcast Series
Dr. Shanda Demorest, DNP, RN, PHN (she/her/hers) is a Sustainability Strategy Manager with Practice Greenhealth, where she works with hospitals and health systems to reduce their environmental impact. A cardiovascular nurse with horticultural training by background, Dr. Demorest earned her Doctorate of Nursing Practice in Health Innovation and Leadership from the University of Minnesota.
About the Nurses for Healthy Environments Podcast
Since 2017, Beth and other hosts have interviewed dozens of nurses across the globe, all of whom are working at the intersection of health and environment. Practicing clinical nurses, faculty and educators, policy makers and elected officials, leaders of non-profits, students, and more have shared their work, commitments and perspectives.
There are two primary goals of the podcast. First, to spread the word about the fabulous work of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments – so we’re glad you found us! Second, to highlight and share the amazing and leading work nurses around the world are doing to help protect our natural world in order to support health and healing.
Again and again, nurses are spearheading social change, climate action,environmental justice, and improving health for vulnerable populations, while using their valuable clinical skills, teaching, and caring. Nurses’ work can seem overlooked or taken for granted, and we are here to tell their important stories. We hope you enjoy meeting the nurses in the Nurses for Healthy Environments podcast!
Beth Schenk, Nurses for Healthy Environments Podcast Host
Elizabeth Schenk, PhD, RN, FAAN, is a leader of environmental stewardship in healthcare, where she has been working to reduce pollution from healthcare for 3 decades. Schenk is the executive director of environmental stewardship for Providence, one of the largest 
non-profit health systems in the United States. She led the development of CHANT: the Climate and Health Tool to understand perceptions, behaviors and motivations of health professionals regarding climate and health. She developed the WE ACT PLEASE framework for environmental stewardship, identifying key focus areas of Waste, Energy/water, Agriculture/food, Chemicals, and Transportation. Schenk serves on the national board of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, and on the boards of Montana Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate and Climate Smart Missoula. She lives in Missoula, Montana.
