Strong state pollution standards can help clean up our air and protect the public from harmful car and truck pollution.
This week, Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments launched a campaign highlighting the devastating impacts of the rollback of the Endangerment Finding and the greenhouse gas emission standards for vehicles, while calling on state leaders to step up and take action. As one of the most trusted messengers in public health, nurses’ voices are critical to increase awareness about the dangers of repealing the Endangerment Finding.
The Endangerment Finding, issued in 2009 in response to the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, compelled the agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions based on overwhelming scientific evidence. Now that it’s rolled back, the results will be devastating: worsening respiratory disease, heat-related illness, and health disparities while further overwhelming hospitals and driving up health care costs.
ANHE public health professionals filmed testimonials on social media calling out the dangers of the endangerment repeal to public health and calling on their state leaders to take action.
“The EPA’s repeal of the Endangerment Finding is not only dangerous – it’s an attack on science and on the health of the American people. Nurses see the human toll of climate change every day: more asthma attacks, more ER visits, more people struggling to breathe. The facts are clear – climate change harms health. Denial of well-established and credible science linking greenhouse gases to harms to human health will only deepen inequities and push our health systems beyond their limits. Rescinding the Endangerment Finding and eliminating clean vehicle standards is a giveaway to polluters – paving the way for more fossil fuel emissions, more toxic pollution, and more human suffering. The Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments will continue to fight for clean air and a more sustainable future for all.” – Katie Huffling, DNP, RN, CNM, FAAN, Executive Director, Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments
Nurses had this to say in their testimonials:
“Repealing the Endangerment Finding ignores what healthcare workers and communities are already experiencing and will further contribute to increased hospitalizations, deaths, and ecological destruction. Emissions regulations are necessary to protect the patients, communities, and places we love that make this country so special.”
– Madison Spellman, RN
“When a supercharged weather event strikes, it’s like a pebble in a pond, spreading to communities that aren’t even in the eye of the storm. Evacuations strain local systems in surrounding areas. Power outages are life-threatening for patients on ventilators or other life-sustaining devices, and supply chain interruptions can harm those who need oxygen tanks or other critical medical equipment to live,” said Tara Heagele, PhD, RN, FAAN. “By rolling back the Endangerment Finding, the federal government is pushing America to the breaking point. It’s time for our state leaders to fill the gap.”
