Description:
In this episode, guest host, Milagros Elia, sits down with Ashley Smith, MSN, RN, PHN, CNE, CSN, a public health nurse and environmental health advocate based in Los Angeles, to explore the importance of elevating the trusted voice of nursing in the fight to protect public health and climate science. Grounded in evidence and frontline experience, this program explores what the Endangerment Finding means for clean air, vulnerable communities, and the future of health in the United States.
Guest Host:
Milagros Elia, M.A, APRN, ANP-BC
Milagros R. Elia is an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse, an early-stage researcher
in the environmental impact of climate change on patient care, and the Program Manager of Climate and Clean Energy at the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments. She co-chairs the national ANA Innovation Advisory Committee on Planetary and Global Health as well as the ANA-NY state chapter’s Climate & Health SIG. Milagros is also a Fellow of the American Nurses Advocacy Institute in which she is focused on building awareness and developing educational toolkits on the impact of climate change on patient care and
outcomes.
Ashley Smith, MSN, RN, PHN, CNE
Ashley Smith is a public health nurse and environmental health advocate based in Los Angeles. She holds a Master of Science in Nursing from Sacramento State and is completing her Doctor of Nursing Practice at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, specializing in Population Health.
Her work focuses on the health impacts of climate change, extreme heat, air pollution, and environmental injustice, particularly in communities already carrying disproportionate burdens. She serves as the Nursing Lead for the Planetary Health Report Card, helping nursing schools integrate climate science and environmental justice into their curricula.
Ashley is active in state and national policy conversations, advocating for workforce funding, environmental protections, and climate-informed health policy. As a nursing educator and advocate, she pushes the nursing profession to move beyond bedside care and step fully into systems-level leadership for climate and health equity.
About the Nurses for Healthy Environments Podcast
2026 marks the 9th season of the Nurses for Healthy Environments Podcast. Since 2017, Beth and other hosts have interviewed dozens nurses across the globe, all of whom are working at the intersection of health and environment. The goals of the podcast are 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, and to spread the word about the fabulous work of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments. We’re glad you found us!
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 a former board member of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments and serves on the boards of Montana Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate and Climate Smart Missoula.
