ENVIROMEDICS

THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON HUMAN HEALTH

OVERVIEW

Many of us have concerns about the effects of climate change on Earth, but we often overlook the essential issue of human health.

This book addresses that oversight and enlightens readers about the most important aspect of one of the greatest challenges of our time.

The global environment is under massive stress from centuries of human industrialization. The projections regarding climate change for the next century and beyond are grim. The impact this will have on human health is tremendous, and we are only just now discovering what the long-term outcomes may be.

By weighing in from a physician’s perspective, Jay Lemery and Paul Auerbach clarify the science, dispel the myths, and help readers understand the threats of climate change to human health. No better argument exists for persuading people to care about climate change than a close look at its impacts on our physical and emotional well-being.

The need has never been greater for a grounded, informative, and accessible discussion about this topic. In this groundbreaking book, the authors not only sound the alarm but address the health issues likely to arise in the coming years.

Jay Lemery, MD

Jay Lemery, MD, Is The Climate & Health Foundation Endowed Chair In Climate Medicine and Professor Of Emergency Medicine At The University Of Colorado School Of Medicine, Chief Of The Section Of Wilderness And Environmental Medicine, And Faculty in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health At The Colorado School Of Public Health. He Is A Past-President Of The Wilderness Medical Society.

Dr. Lemery has expertise in austere and remote medical care, as well as the effects of climate change on human health. At the University of Colorado, Lemery co-founded the Climate & Health Program, based at the School of Medicine.  The Program inaugurated the nation’s first graduate medical education climate & health science policy fellowship for physicians in 2017, in partnership with numerous federal agencies and nonprofits.  In fall 2022, the program launched the ‘Diploma in Climate Medicine’ for healthcare providers, the first of its kind at a School of Medicine, offering a distinction for expertise and leadership in this novel field.  

In 2017, Dr Lemery co-authored ‘Enviromedics: the Impact of Climate Change on Human Health’ and prior to that, co-edited ‘Global Climate Change and Human Health: From Science to Practice’, now in its second edition.  Dr. Lemery was a technical contributor to the 13 U.S. Federal Agency, ‘Fourth National Climate Assessment’, and co-author on the landmark New England Journal of Medicine study on Excess Mortality in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.  From 2011-2016, he was a consultant for the Climate and Health Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
He is currently the Medical Director for the National Science Foundation’s Polar Research program and Associate Element Scientist of the Exploration Medical Capability Element of NASA’s Human Research Program.  From 2014-2016, he was the EMS Medical Director for the United States Antarctic Program.  He is a Fellow at the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines and formally a Visiting Scientist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (FXB Center), where he was a contributing editor for its Journal, ‘Health and Human Rights,’ and Guest Editor for the special edition on ‘Climate Justice.’
Dr. Lemery is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and in 2021, was elected to the National Academy of Medicine.
Paul Auerbach, MD (1951-2021). Paul passed away June 23, 2021 after a long fight with cancer. He was a loving partner, father and a generous mentor to so many in medicine, leaving a rich, enduring legacy.

Paul Auerbach, MD, was the Redlich Family Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine, and Adjunct Professor of Military/Emergency Medicine at the F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He was a founder and past president of the Wilderness Medical Society and elected member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Dr. Auerbach was the founding editor of the definitive textbook Wilderness Medicine and author of Field Guide to Wilderness Medicine and Medicine for the Outdoors. He was the founding co-editor of the journal Wilderness & Environmental Medicine and is one of the world’s leading experts in wilderness medicine and emergency medicine.

Dr. Auerbach served as a first responder to the earthquakes in Haiti (2010) and Nepal (2015) and was instrumental in creation of the Nepal Ambulance Service. Former Chief of the Divisions of Emergency Medicine at Vanderbilt and Stanford Universities, he has also been a faculty member at Temple University and the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Auerbach was one of the first proponents of physicians becoming active participants in the discussions on issues related to the environment and global climate change through his advocacy in helping to create the Environmental Council of the Wilderness Medical Society and a widely-read commentary published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2008 titled “Physicians and the Environment.”

He has been honored by the Divers Alert Network as the DAN/Rolex Diver of the Year and with a NOGI Award for Science from the Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences, and recognized by the 98th Civil Affairs Battalion (Airborne) for his work in Haiti. He lived a life to seek opportunities to assist others and make the world a better place.

Dr. Auerbach’s legacy:

from the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/19/health/dr-paul-auerbach-dead.html

from the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/paul-auerbach-dead/2021/07/20/38576992-e957-11eb-ba5d-55d3b5ffcaf1_story.html

from Stanford Medicine: https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2021/07/paul-auerbach-wilderness-medicine-pioneer-dies-at-70.html

Reviews

“The real crisis of climate change is one of public perception, and far too few of us realize the catastrophe that we're headed into. Lemery and Auerbach bring forth the human element from climate change – they bring us to the bedside and force us to rethink our risk assessment. For that reason alone, Enviromedics is one of the most important books of the year.”

James BalogDirector, Extreme Ice Survey and Earth Vision Institute

“It isn’t remotely possible to remove your body, and its health, from the environment you live in, air you breathe, food you eat. Enviromedics persuasively explains what we have done to our planet, and how we are already paying a price for climate change with our health. Heed Lemery and Auerbach’s message, before it’s too late.”

Laurie GarrettPulitzer Prize-winning writer; author of I Heard the Sirens Scream

“In anticipating the consequences of climate change, there has been insufficient discussion of the discrete medical consequences and the arising health care challenges. This thoughtful book provides a framework upon which to categorize, anticipate, and understand such critical medical issues. Lemery and Auerbach’s work is pioneering and will be the standard in this field.”

Abraham VergheseMD, MACP, Professor of Medicine, Stanford University; recipient of the National Humanities Medal; author of Cutting for Stone

“With this book, Lemery and Auerbach do what physicians do best: assess the patient's presenting symptoms, consider and apply the evidence at hand, and prescribe a path forward. They demonstrate the unique value that a medical perspective brings to the greatest health threat of the 21st century — climate change.”

Nick WattsExecutive Director, Lancet Commission: Tracking Progress on Health and Climate Change

“Climate change is a medical issue. That’s the starting point for Jay Lemery and Paul Auerbach in their compelling new book. They write about what doctors will face as more and more patients walk through their doors feeling dizzy and vomiting from heat stress, with burns from fighting wildfires, or with a mosquito-borne disease that never used to be found in these parts. It’s already happening and can only get worse, much worse. Their message is vital to the health of this and future generations.”

Clive HamiltonProfessor of Public Ethics at Charles Sturt University; author of Earthmasters

“Lemery and Auerbach have done a superb job demonstrating how and explaining why climate change threatens everyone. They have taken an issue understood by very few people and - in a clear and compelling fashion - shown why this needs to be regarded as a central aspect of global health and well-being.”

Mark PlotkinPhD, LHD, President, Amazon Conservation Team; author of Medicine Quest: In Search of Nature’s Healing Secrets

“Many adolescents have the delusion that pretending to be invincible makes one so. They soon learn: taking risks with no benefits is often future-wrecking. America and other nations can no longer behave that way. They cannot ignore the evidence of impending collapse: ruined oceans, lands, and atmospheres, and thus sick people. During “teachable moments” in the emergency room, doctors sometimes confront people who are endangered by self-inflicted disease. With Enviromedics, these experienced and accessible doctors are intervening at a moment of urgency, offering their informed concerns and asserting the changes that their patient, all of us, must make. Every person, young and old, should read Enviromedics.”

Richard J. JacksonMD MPH, Professor, Fielding School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles; author of Making Healthy Places; host of the PBS series "Designing Healthy Communities"

“Enviromedics is the most important book ever written about how the changes in our environment affect human health. Doctors understand the effects of diet, stress, lack of exercise, and sleep on health and disease. But our health care system mostly ignores the effects of pollution and climate change on human health. As the authors point out, Earth will survive these insults, but human life itself may not. This book should be read by everyone, including policy makers, health care professionals, and anyone who cares about their personal health.”

Mark HymanMD, Director, Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine; author of 10-Day Detox Diet

“It’s difficult for many Americans, particularly in this politically charged period, to know how to think about global climate change. Often they have no contact with scientists or environmentalists, and probably little confidence in their views. But they know and trust their doctors and nurses. And they care about the health of their families. That is why Lemery and Auerbach's explanation of the link between climate change and personal health is such an important and useful contribution. And, as a bonus, it's an easy read.”

Frank LoyFormer United States Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs

“An eloquent, gentle, compassionate, humble, logical and clear communication — just the sort that all of us want from our doctors. The language and logic are easy to understand and, by not being 'preachy'— the book is all the more persuasive. This is an important book that, like Atul Gawande's Being Mortal, should be read by all members of the public as well as by the medical profession.”

Hugh MontgomeryMD, FRCP, FRGS, FRSB, FFICM, Professor of Intensive Care Medicine; Director of the Institute for Human Health and Performance, University College London

“Climate scientists often speak about the impacts of climate change in reference to aspects of our ecosystem, such as rising temperatures, rising seas, and more frequent extreme weather events. In Enviromedics, Doctors Lemery and Auerbach successfully identify the ominous links between climate change and human health, including mental health. This incredibly well-researched and well-written book by subject matter experts from the health field provides great insight into why we ALL should care deeply about preventing the worst effects of climate change.”

Bill Ritterformer Governor of Colorado

“Doctors Lemery and Auerbach have done the world a great service by providing a straightforward and understandable must-read book that clearly connects human health with an often overlooked and unavoidably essential variable — our environment!”

Richard Carmona, MD, MPH, FACS17th Surgeon General of the United States; Distinguished Professor of Public Health, University of Arizona

“Jay Lemery and Paul Auerbach’s book reads like the plot of a disaster movie — but that is exactly what climate change is. It brings to life the human element and the reasons why we really need to worry and take immediate action. It is a must-read for global policy makers.”

Vivek WadhwaDistinguished Fellow, Carnegie Mellon School of Engineering; syndicated columnist, The Washington Post

“The health of humans and environmental conditions on Earth are profoundly intertwined. I am immensely impressed by this book. Enviromedics takes the reader beyond debates about environmental change and its causes to a thoughtful, science-based discussion about the relationship between climate change and human health. This is a worthy conversation to be had among health care providers, and even more importantly, among our general populations. The authors take their Hippocratic oath seriously for the benefit of society and our precious planet.”

Chad P. DawsonProfessor Emeritus, State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry; Editor-in-chief, International Journal of Wilderness; co-author, Wilderness Management: Stewardship and Protection of Resources and Values

“Smoking tobacco was a scourge to human health. In January 1964, the U.S. Surgeon General issued a report on smoking and human health. This courageous physician and others spoke their minds independent from global industrial interests, and their efforts triggered a series of concerted efforts by government and nongovernmental organizations to reduce the toll of cigarette smoking. With Enviromedics, Lemery and Auerbach bring to light a considerably greater threat. They describe hazards that are associated with global warming and the consequences for humanity, whether now or in the future. “Earth will survive. It is the living creatures that may perish.” We simply cannot ignore this possibility. The authors are emergency physicians who practice on the front lines and each day see the repercussions of global climate change. As experts in wilderness medicine, they know better than most the impacts of nature on human welfare. This amazing book is worth reading for anyone who is not afraid to contemplate what we are doing and how we must reverse course for the benefit of planet Earth.”

Hermann Brugger, MDHead of the Institute of Mountain Emergency Medicine, EURAC research, Bolzano, Italy; President of the International Society of Mountain Medicine

“Enviromedics is a very successful effort by Doctors Lemery and Auerbach that teaches us the effects and consequences of the impacts of environmental change upon human health. This comprehensive collection of information puts forth an easily understood critical concept that will undoubtedly be discussed, debated, and researched. Regardless of your opinion on climate change, it is essential to understand how environmental change could alter the reality of your day-to-day ability to function in an optimally healthy way. As physicians and global healthcare advocates, the authors make a convincing case that climate change creates definable causes and distribution of illnesses that will impact the human condition. Their point is that to treat these illnesses is not enough. The ability of mankind to survive resides in humans treating the environmental in the same way that we care for each other. If you are looking for a thorough understanding of environmental change and how it might be impacting your, your family’s, and your world’s health, this book is a must-read.”

Dan Orr, MSPresident Emeritus, Divers Alert Network Foundation; President, Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences

“Enviromedics is a timely and lucid account of the health effects caused by human-induced environmental change. The current and future consequences of this health crisis are widespread and monumental in their scale and scope. The world’s poorest people are the most severely impacted yet the most obviously under-addressed by anything approaching climate justice. Enviromedics should be required reading for anyone who has an interest in better understanding this unprecedented heath care crisis and how to address it.”

David BreashearsExecutive Director, GlacierWorks; acclaimed filmmaker, author, and mountaineer

“Enviromedics is a compelling dive into the essential topic of health in a changing climate. Through a readable tour of the science and gripping examples, Lemery and Auerbach highlight the ways that shifting climate and related extreme conditions, heat waves to flooding, are affecting people. Whether the connections are direct or indirect, they are exceeding human limits for tolerance across global geographies. The authors underscore a key implication — responding effectively to the climate challenge can build vibrant societies with safety, health, and well-being at the core.”

Katharine Mach, PhDSenior Research Scientist, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment

Purchase

Enviromedics is available at book sellers everywhere.

Updates

Reflecting on COP28 from Dubai
CU School of Medicine names the nation's first Endowed Chair in Climate Medicine
Op-ed in the LA Times
Dr. Jay Lemery elected to the National Academy of Medicine
Washington Post: Dr Lemery on heat and vulnerable communities
Grist: The search for the Dr. Fauci of climate change
THE definitive TEXTbook on Climate & Health: Jay senior edits the 2nd edition of "Global Climate Change & Human Health: From Science to Practice" (2021, Wiley)
The Human Costs of a Warming Planet-- in Natural Awakenings: Chicago
How to make the Civilian Climate Corps even better...
Emergency Physicians who are leading the way on climate change
in Science Diplomacy: We Need to Train Climate Doctors
in Health Affairs: Training Clinical And Public Health Leaders In Climate And Health
in The Hill: America Needs a Civilian Climate Corps
Kaiser Health News: How Climate Change Is Putting Doctors In The Hot Seat
The Payne Institute at the Colorado School of Mines welcomes Dr. Jay
Jay leads off EM:RAP this month
Dr. Auerbach's interview on Tech Nation Radio
'Climate Change in the Curriculum,' AAMC News talks with Dr. Jay
Annnnnd we're back on KQED, NPR affiliate for the Bay Area and Northern California~
UCLA Radio interview with Jay: 'Enviropositive'
NPR features CU's Climate & Health Fellow on the Mysterious Kidney Disease Striking Central America
Yale's 'Climate Connections' puts us on the best dozen list for books on climate change & public health
AEM Podcast's Dr. Gita Pensa has 1:1 with Dr. Lemery
#12 on the Top 100 Best Climate Change Books of All Time, from bookauthority.org
Jay's interview with former EPA Administrator, Gina McCarthy!
We're featured in the Sacramento News & Review!
Jay on NPR's affiliate WRVO "Take Care"
Paul on the 'Doctor Weighs In' for Earth Day...
Boston University's 'The Core Blog" recommends us as a top 10 book on anthropogenic climate change
Climate Change: "Physicians Need To Be Involved!"
Jay's interview in 'Folks'
'An Excellent Primer..." says the 'Annals of Emergency Medicine'
We made the list! Dartmouth Alumni Magazine 'Alumni Books' (Jay= medical school; Paul= internship)
Fantastic video interview and WM montage of Paul from 'Ivanhoe News'
Colorado Public Radio: How Climate Change Disproportionately Affects Women’s Health- an interview with the CU Climate Change Fellow
"Highly recommended" by 'Wilderness & Environmental Medicine' journal
A New Climate & Health Fellowship for Doctors
ORION Magazine: How is climate & health related to wilderness medicine? Our authors explain...
Jay's Enviromedics lecture at the Colorado School of Public Health
Vail Symposium hosts Enviromedics
Jay contributed to an important paper in a special edition of PLOS Medicine on climate change and women's health
Point O'Woods Arts Association (Fire Island NY): summer lecture series
Jay gives a book reading in his hometown: Crandall Library, Glens Falls NY
Summer 2018: Sun Valley Forum
Jay delivers Grand Rounds at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons: "Beyond Maria: What Physicians Must Do: The pivotal role clinicians can play in shaping climate change policy"
Climate Vulnerability: our landmark paper in the New England Journal of Medicine on excess mortality in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria
Jay speaks to the Salt Lake Tribune on the changing habitats of Lyme disease-carrying ticks
Paul featured in 'Duke Magazine' [p.23]
Jay at the Environmental Media Association's IMPACT SUMMIT
Clean Med San Diego: Climate Change and Emergency Medicine: A Specialty on the Frontline
SAEM Annual Meeting: Climate Change and Health: Implications for Practice, Teaching, Research, and Advocacy in Emergency Medicine
Powerful opinion piece by Paul on Doximity
Center for Global Health at the Colorado School of Public Health presents Enviromedics
Jay's reading and book signing at Denver's Tattered Cover Bookstore (Colfax)
Connecting with other clinicians at the annual meeting of the Medical Society Consortium on Climate & Health
Starred Review from the American Library Association's 'Booklist Online'
The Emergency Medicine Residents' Association does Q&A with Paul
Paul on NatGeo's Changing Planet: 'Wildfires, Mudslides in the Wake of Climate Change'
The Doctor Weighs In: how climate change is killing us now....
Jay: 'On the Air' Podcast from the University of Colorado
KERA Dallas talks with Dr. Paul
On Sirius Satellite "Doctor Radio" 110 with Drs. Billy Goldberg and Howard Greller
"We Need Climate Doctors." Find out why in BMJ Opinion
Mark Plotkin and the Amazon Conservation Team does Q&A with Paul
Featured in National Geographic voices!
KALW San Francisco gave us a full hour to talk Enviromedics-- click for the audio of our mellifluous voices
Stanford Medicine: "Why we should shout about environmental changes that are making us sick"
Now available at Books Inc-- the West's oldest independent bookseller
Nick Watts wrote a terrific endorsement for our book and is the lead author of the latest 'Lancet Countdown' review--a state of the art assessment on climate and health.
An Environmental Defense Fund podcast-- we were interviewed on the main points of Enviromedics
Hear ye, hear ye! The Los Altos Town Crier features Enviromedics
University of Colorado tweets out Jay's talking head-- 2 minute video on climate & health
Publishers weekly gives Enviromedics a 'starred review' as a featured non-fiction pick.
"The Great Procrastination" Jay's essay authored with Dr. Paul Farmer on the price of delayed action on our posterity. In the Harvard School of Public Health journal 'Health and Human Rights'
Stanford Medicine News highlights Enviromedics with short interviews with Drs. Lemery and Auerbach.
One of the best examples of how to effectively converse on the links between climate change and health. From our friends at 'Climate For Health.'
Dr. Lemery's Q&A on Radio Ecoshock
Hi friends-- check out Jay's interview in JAMA explaining how we need to mobilize medical education to train the care providers of tomorrow to tackle these important issues
Healthline News reviews Enviromedics
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