The Physician’s Moral Responsibility in Supporting Environmental Wellbeing

Abstract: As the scope of medical education broadens to include and emphasize social determinants of health, such as the built environment, the role of the future primary care physician broadens alongside it. In addition to being responsible for assessing and improving the patient’s health through clinical encounters, a physician has the responsibility to help support the patient’s health as it is affected by external factors such as the environment. This comes into play in the state of New Jersey where Clinicians for Climate Action advocate for Clean Energy bills at the state legislature and climate advocates speak out against the fourth proposed liquified natural gas power plant in Newark, NJ. This presentation outlines existing physician advocacy efforts and opportunities to expand them with patient and population health in mind. It explores historically successful efforts and the current landscape of legislative and advocacy efforts at the intersection of health and climate in New Jersey. This foundation of research and context informs the proposed role of the physician in the advocacy and policy space. It outlines the moral responsibility of the physician to support patients’ environmental health and wellbeing outside of the clinic while also recognizing the limits of a physician’s professional purview.

Keywords: Climate, Advocacy, Environment