scholarly journals Climate Change Curriculum Infusion Project: An educational initiative at one U.S. medical school

2021 ◽  
pp. 100065
Author(s):  
Sophie Karwoska Kligler ◽  
Lindsay Clark ◽  
Christian Cayon ◽  
Nina Prescott ◽  
Jill K Gregory ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Educational Initiative

scholarly journals The impact of integrating environmental health into medical school curricula: a survey-based study

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Kligler ◽  
Genevieve Pinto Zipp ◽  
Carmela Rocchetti ◽  
Michelle Secic ◽  
Erin Speiser Ihde
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Medical Education ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Learning Objectives ◽  
Lead Contamination ◽  
Institute Of Medicine ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background Inclusion of environmental health (EH) in medical education serves as a catalyst for preparing future physicians to address issues as complex as climate change and health, water pollution and lead contamination. However, previous research has found EH education to be largely lacking in U.S. medical education, putting future physicians at risk of not having the expertise to address patients’ environmental illnesses, nor speak to prevention. Methods Environmental health (EH) knowledge and skills were incorporated into the first-year medical school curriculum at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine (Nutley, New Jersey), via a two-hour interactive large group learning module with follow up activities. Students completed the Environmental Health in Med School (EHMS) survey before and after the year 1 EH module. This survey evaluates medical students’ attitudes, awareness and professionalism regarding environmental health. In year 2, students completed the Environmental Health Survey II, which measured students’ perceptions of preparedness to discuss EH with future patients. The research team created both surveys based upon learning objectives that broadly aligned with the Institute of Medicine six competency-based environmental health learning objectives. Results 36 year 1 students completed both the pre and post EHMS surveys. McNemar’s test was used for paired comparisons. Results identified no statistically significant changes from pre to post surveys, identifying a dramatic ceiling. When comparing year 2, EHS II pre-survey (n = 84) and post-survey (n = 79) responses, a statistically significant positive change in students’ self-reported sense of preparedness to discuss environmental health with their patients following the curriculum intervention was noted. Conclusions Our conclusion for the EHMS in Year 1 was that the current generation of medical students at this school is already extremely aware of and concerned about the impact of environmental issues on health. Through the EHS II in Year 2, we found that the six-week environmental health module combining didactic and experiential elements significantly increased medical students’ self-reported sense of preparedness to discuss environmental health issues, including climate change, with their patients.

scholarly journals Sisyphus and Climate Change: Educating in the Context of Tragedies of the Commons

Philosophies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan T. Gardner
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Educational Initiative ◽  
World Government ◽  
Measurable Difference ◽  
The Commons ◽  
Garrett Hardin ◽  
Problem Solvers ◽  
The Right

The tragedy of the commons is a primary contributing factor in ensuring that humanity makes no serious inroads in averting climate change. As a recent Canadian politician pointed out, we could shut down the Canadian economy tomorrow, and it would make no measurable difference in global greenhouse gas emissions. When coordinated effort is required, it would seem that doing the “right thing” alone is irrational: it will harm oneself with no positive consequences as a result. Such is the tragedy. And that is the challenge that we take up here. Though Garrett Hardin suggests that the solution is a governmental process that rules over all contenders, since a world government seems unlikely before the planet hits the tippy point, we suggest an educational initiative instead: one that holds a mirror up to the behaviour of individuals, rather than to the behaviour of individuals in groups. Such an educational initiative would be focused on priming individuals to keep constant track of what they do as individuals as opposed to focusing on the behaviour of humanity in general. Such an educational initiative would focus on tackling the “problem solvers” rather than just “the problem”.

scholarly journals The Impact of Integrating Environmental Health into Medical School Curricula: A Survey-Based Study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Ihde ◽  
Benjamin Kligler ◽  
Genevieve Pinto Zipp ◽  
Carmela Rocchetti
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Medical Education ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Lead Contamination ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
The Impact ◽  
School Curricula

Abstract Background Inclusion of environmental health (EH) in medical education serves as a catalyst for preparing future physicians to address issues as complex as climate change and health, water pollution and lead contamination. However, previous research has found EH education to be largely lacking in U.S. medical education, putting future physicians at risk of not having the expertise necessary to address patients' environmental illnesses, nor speak to prevention. Environmental health disparities fit well under the larger umbrella of social determinants of health, which still remain largely omitted from medical school curricula. Methods Environmental health (EH) knowledge and skills were incorporated into the first-year medical school curriculum at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, via a thread of two-hour interactive large group learning sessions with follow up activities. In year 1, students took the Environmental Health in Med School (EHMS) survey before and after the EH thread. This survey was designed to evaluate medical students’ attitudes, awareness and professionalism regarding environmental health. Results suggested a dramatic ceiling effect on students’ responses to the EHMS survey, making it difficult to detect any change from before to after the intervention. Our conclusion was that the current generation of medical students at this school is already extremely aware of and concerned about the impact of environmental issues on health. Based on the outcomes of the EHMS survey, a new Environmental Health Survey II (EHS II) was created for Year 2, to measure students' perceptions of preparedness to discuss EH with future patients. The two surveys were both created by the research team and designed to help inform subsequent content revisions to ensure learning objectives were met. ResultsResults for the four questions on the EHS II pre-survey (84 respondents) and on the post-survey (79 respondents) showed a statistically significant positive change in students’ self-reported sense of preparedness to discuss environmental health with their patients following the curriculum intervention. ConclusionsA relatively brief six-week environmental health module combining didactic and experiential elements can significantly increase medical students’ self-reported sense of preparedness to discuss environmental health issues, including climate change, with their patients.

scholarly journals The Impact of Integrating Environmental Health into Medical School Curricula: A Survey-Based Study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Kligler ◽  
Genevieve Pinto Zipp ◽  
Carmela Rocchetti ◽  
Erin Speiser Ihde ◽  
Michelle Secic
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Medical Education ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Learning Objectives ◽  
Lead Contamination ◽  
Institute Of Medicine ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background Inclusion of environmental health (EH) in medical education serves as a catalyst for preparing future physicians to address complex issues as climate change and health, water pollution and lead contamination. However, previous research has found EH education to be largely lacking in U.S. medical education, putting future physicians at risk of not having the expertise to address patients' environmental illnesses, nor speak to prevention. Methods Environmental health (EH) knowledge and skills were incorporated into the first-year medical school curriculum at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine (Nutley, New Jersey), via a two-hour interactive large group learning module with follow up activities. Students completed the Environmental Health in Med School (EHMS) survey before and after the year 1 EH module. This survey evaluates medical students’ attitudes, awareness and professionalism regarding environmental health. In year 2, students completed the Environmental Health Survey II, which measured students' perceptions of preparedness to discuss EH with future patients. The research team created both surveys based upon learning objectives that broadly aligned with the Institute of Medicine six competency-based environmental health learning objectives. Results 36 year 1 students completed both the pre and post EHMS surveys. McNemar’s test was used for paired comparisons. Results identified no statistically significant changes from pre to post surveys, identifying a dramatic ceiling. When comparing year 2, EHS II pre-survey (n=84) and post-survey (n=79) responses, a statistically significant positive change in students’ self-reported sense of preparedness to discuss environmental health with their patients following the curriculum intervention was noted. Conclusions Our conclusion for the EHMS in Year 1 was that the current generation of medical students at this school is already extremely aware of and concerned about the impact of environmental issues on health. Through the EHS II in Year 2, we found that the six-week environmental health module combining didactic and experiential elements significantly increased medical students’ self-reported sense of preparedness to discuss environmental health issues, including climate change, with their patients.

scholarly journals The Unique Role of Medical Students in Catalyzing Climate Change Education

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 238212052095765
Author(s):  
Benjamin M Rabin ◽  
Emaline B Laney ◽  
Rebecca P Philipsborn
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Medical Education ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Medical School ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Curricular Integration ◽  
Climate Change Education ◽  
Unique Role ◽  
Climate And Health

Climate change is a well-recognized threat to human health with impacts on every organ system and with implications for disease processes across subspecialties. Climate-driven environmental exposures influence the pathophysiologic underpinnings of disease emphasized in the pre-clinical years of medical school. While medical schools are beginning to offer climate change and health electives, medical education is lagging in providing fundamental climate-and-health content to adequately prepare the next generation of physicians for the challenges that they will face in the provision of healthcare and the prevention and treatment of disease. This perspective piece highlights the unique role of medical students in catalyzing the incorporation of climate content into the pre-clinical medical school curriculum and provides topics for disseminated curricular integration with the concepts emphasized in the pre-clinical years of medical education.

Averting robo-bees: why free-flying robotic bees are a bad idea

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 723-729
Author(s):  
Roslyn Gleadow ◽  
Jim Hanan ◽  
Alan Dorin
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Computer Simulation ◽  
Food Security ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Plant Interactions ◽  
Plant Insect Interactions ◽  
Native Habitat ◽  
Insect Pollinators ◽  
Insect Interactions

Food security and the sustainability of native ecosystems depends on plant-insect interactions in countless ways. Recently reported rapid and immense declines in insect numbers due to climate change, the use of pesticides and herbicides, the introduction of agricultural monocultures, and the destruction of insect native habitat, are all potential contributors to this grave situation. Some researchers are working towards a future where natural insect pollinators might be replaced with free-flying robotic bees, an ecologically problematic proposal. We argue instead that creating environments that are friendly to bees and exploring the use of other species for pollination and bio-control, particularly in non-European countries, are more ecologically sound approaches. The computer simulation of insect-plant interactions is a far more measured application of technology that may assist in managing, or averting, ‘Insect Armageddon' from both practical and ethical viewpoints.

Modelling ecosystem adaptation and dangerous rates of global warming

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Millington ◽  
Peter M. Cox ◽  
Jonathan R. Moore ◽  
Gabriel Yvon-Durocher
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Diffusion Rate ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Genetic Evolution ◽  
Rates Of Change ◽  
Rapid Climate Change ◽  
Warming Climate ◽  
Intraspecies Competition ◽  
High Trait

Abstract We are in a period of relatively rapid climate change. This poses challenges for individual species and threatens the ecosystem services that humanity relies upon. Temperature is a key stressor. In a warming climate, individual organisms may be able to shift their thermal optima through phenotypic plasticity. However, such plasticity is unlikely to be sufficient over the coming centuries. Resilience to warming will also depend on how fast the distribution of traits that define a species can adapt through other methods, in particular through redistribution of the abundance of variants within the population and through genetic evolution. In this paper, we use a simple theoretical ‘trait diffusion’ model to explore how the resilience of a given species to climate change depends on the initial trait diversity (biodiversity), the trait diffusion rate (mutation rate), and the lifetime of the organism. We estimate theoretical dangerous rates of continuous global warming that would exceed the ability of a species to adapt through trait diffusion, and therefore lead to a collapse in the overall productivity of the species. As the rate of adaptation through intraspecies competition and genetic evolution decreases with species lifetime, we find critical rates of change that also depend fundamentally on lifetime. Dangerous rates of warming vary from 1°C per lifetime (at low trait diffusion rate) to 8°C per lifetime (at high trait diffusion rate). We conclude that rapid climate change is liable to favour short-lived organisms (e.g. microbes) rather than longer-lived organisms (e.g. trees).

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