Climate Change and Population Health: Incorporating Stages of Nursing's Political Development

Climate change is the greatest public health threat of the 21^st century and is associated with environmental degradation and deleterious health consequences. In 2019, the Lancet Commission Report on Health and Climate Change: Ensuring that the Health of a Child Born Today Is Not Defined By a Changing Climate (Watts et al., 2019) examined the critical health issues that children will face in the era of climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions (GGEs) are responsible for an alarming increase in the warming of the planet, shifts in weather patterns, loss of arable land, and exacerbations of acute health issues, chronic health problems, and disaster-related health consequences. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of climate change and the associated deleterious health consequences in our climate-changing world. The paper will also examine the stages of political development to advance the 21^st century role of the nursing profession in climate and health advocacy and policy.