Making invisible problems visible
Next steps to empower physicians
Confronting climate change is daunting, and it is made more challenging by a partisan environment, distrust of experts, and disinformation. On her podcast, Dr. Mosesón aims to make it easier.
In each episode, she shares information and interviews experts. She shares how a patient might be affected by particular issues — radon, wildfires, and so on. The goal is to provide clinicians with a foundation on everyday issues.
“Every single doctor feels like they can talk to a patient about smoking, even if they don’t know all the deep nitty-gritty studies about it,” Dr. Mosesón said. The exact effects of smoking — cancer, heart disease, and lung disease — occur due to air pollution. “When I give talks, I tell people, if you can talk about smoking, you can talk about air pollution.”
Each podcast also features an array of action items.
Some steps are practical, such as creating a plan for heat events or encouraging radon testing. The solution could also be as simple as asking the right questions.
For example, at a doctor’s visit for asthma, common recommendations are to use a HEPA filter or place a sheet protector on the bed, Dr. Mosesón said. It won’t typically come up that a patient’s asthma may be caused or exacerbated by living beside a highway.
Dr. Mosesón also encourages advocacy. “There are all these different levels [of response],” she said. Next steps might involve writing a letter, contacting a councilperson, or advocating for a program (like retiring gas-powered leaf blowers).
For many patients, their doctor is the only person they routinely interact with who has advanced scientific training. Rather than presenting dry data, Dr. Mosesón recommends framing changes and recommendations in ways that are meaningful to neighbors.
“Each physician or clinician is going to know the values of their community,” Dr. Mosesón said. If you’re in a military town, advocating for electric cars may be easier if framed around decreasing dependence on foreign oil. If the region recently experienced back-to-back heat events, advocating for a cooling center might be galvanizing.
What is Dr. Mosesón’s ultimate goal? Inform others so well that she can retire her podcasting equipment.
“I would love,” Dr. Mosesón said, “for every physician in their local community to be a clean air and climate advocate.”
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Be sure to check out a special episode of the Air Health Our Health podcast, where Dr. Mosesón and CHEST Advocates Editor in Chief, Drew Harris, MD, FCCP, discuss the serious health issues impacting coal miners. They take a deep dive into black lung disease and silica dust, highlighting the science and research, prevention efforts and challenges to implementation, and the importance of advocacy work.
This article was adapted from the Winter 2024 online issue of CHEST Advocates. For the full article — and to engage with the other content from this issue — visit chestnet.org/chest-advocates.
