Q&A: California Nurse and Environmental Health Pioneer Barbara Sattler on Climate Change as a Medical Emergency
Inside Climate News did a great Q & A with ANHE Member and Nurse Leader, Barb Sattler, RN, DrPH, FAAN. Read the full article here.
“Barbara Sattler is on a mission to transform the way nurses, physicians and the general public think about threats to health. For Sattler, a registered nurse, emerita professor of public health at the University of San Francisco and founding member of the international Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, it starts with being able to describe what climate change is.
On Friday, at a summit hosted by another organization she helps run, California Nurses for Environmental Health and Justice, Sattler led a role-playing exercise to help her colleagues do just that. She invited nurses, physicians and scientists packed into a USF conference room in San Francisco to “give your elevator spiel” to your neighbor about what climate change is. She gave them just 90 seconds, then asked them to switch roles.
When she asked how many people had a “great deal of confidence” in describing climate change, just a few hands went up. After all, they’re trained health professionals, not climate scientists. But Sattler, who has long taught the connections between fossil fuels’ harmful planetary and human health effects, had a plan to boost their confidence.”
