Art of Medicine
Apr 2023
Abstract
This series of 4 images visually considers ethical questions about the US health sector’s emissions.
Figure 1. Smokestacks
Media
Affinity Designer iterated through the artificial intelligence (AI) art program Midjourney, with custom parameter weighting.
Caption
This drawing explores the dissonance between a hospital’s healing capacity and its emissions’ environmental harms. Air pollution threatens patients’ health in a variety of ways, including by exacerbating respiratory and cardiovascular illness and increasing spread of infectious diseases.1
Figure 2. Landfill
Media
Affinity Designer iterated through the AI art program Midjourney, with custom parameter weighting.
Caption
Mountains of plastic represent one environmental harm of the US health sector. Vast amounts of waste, especially single-use plastics, suggest the importance of finding sustainable alternatives.
Figure 3. Drought
Media
Affinity Designer iterated through the AI art program Midjourney, with custom parameter weighting.
Caption
Dystopian consequences of the Anthropocene are represented here by first responders,2 on whom we rely when facing emergencies and who have limited capacity as individuals for the collective response needed to mitigate climate change, which is annually causing millions of deaths worldwide.3 In this bleak landscape, those tasked with saving lives are also stranded.
Figure 4. Reclaimed
Media
Affinity Designer iterated through the AI art program Midjourney, with custom parameter weighting.
Caption
An operating room overrun with lush vegetation represents hope for a more sustainable, “greener” approach to health care. Plants’ reclamation of a once sterile, artificial place prompt a reimagining of spaces designated for health and well-being.
References
- Rice MB, Thurston GD, Balmes JR, Pinkerton KE. Climate change. A global threat to cardiopulmonary health. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2014;189(5):512-519.
-
Kolbert E. The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History. Henry Holt & Co; 2014.
- Zhao Q, Guo Y, Ye T, et al. Global, regional, and national burden of mortality associated with non-optimal ambient temperatures from 2000 to 2019: a three-stage modelling study. Lancet Planet Health. 2021;5(7):e415-e425.
