ANA Release New Position on Climate Change - American Nurses Association
ANA Release New Position on Climate Change
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SILVER SPRING, MD – The American Nurses Association (ANA), the premier organization representing the nation’s more than 5 million registered nurses, has released a new position statement entitled Nurses’ Role in Addressing Global Climate Change, Climate Justice, and Health. This position statement provides guidance to nurses, nursing organizations, and the healthcare sector in mitigating their contributions to climate change as well as adaptation strategies to the health challenges from climate change. ANA’s position also includes nursing interventions, recommendations for innovations, and research, as well as other relevant resources.
Anthropogenic climate change is a result of large amounts of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere due to human activities. These gases confine atmospheric heat and slowly warm the planet’s temperature. This warming can result in extreme weather events, excessive temperatures variations, wildfires, increased vector-born disease and many other negative human and planetary impacts. As the leading nursing organization, ANA is prepared to take a leadership position in addressing the impacts of climate change on human and population health and help prepare nurses to engage patients in conversations about climate change and its health impacts; impacts which disproportionately affect the most vulnerable populations.
Learn more and read ANA’s full position statement on climate change.
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About the American Nurses Association
The American Nurses Association(ANA) is the premier organization representing the interests of the nation's more than 5 million registered nurses. ANA advances the profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting a safe and ethical work environment, bolstering the health and wellness of nurses, and advocating on health care issues that affect nurses and the public. ANA is at the forefront of improving the quality of health care for all. For more information, visit www.nursingworld.org.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate science
What began as a theory in the 1890s — that industrial emissions of carbon dioxide could increase global temperatures — had progressed to a scientific fact a century later. Scientists across a range of disciplines are studying the impact of the still-growing concentration of carbon dioxide and other so-called “greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere as they call for industrial and governmental policies to slow, then halt, the warming of the planet.