How can clinicians respond to the health challenges associated with global climate change? This month on Ethics Talk, we learn about how art can communicate the health effects of climate change, the challenges that hot and humid days pose for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and what the global health risk of climate change means for individual clinicians.

Dr Rajesh R. Tampi joins Ethics Talk to discuss his article, coauthored with Drs Aarti Gupta and Iqbal Ahmed: “Why Does the US Overly Rely on International Medical Graduates in Its Geriatric Psychiatric Workforce?”

Dr Ariane Lewis discusses how we can navigate uncertainty and ambiguity about brain death by understanding clinical criteria for brain death determination and how our approaches to death are culturally and socially situated.

Harriet Washington talks about the devastating impact of environmental racism on the health and well-being of communities of color.

Dr Andrew Jameton talks about the public health threats posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, global climate crisis, and its interconnections.

Physician advocacy for climate change mitigation is justified by seven criteria including physicians’ efficacy, expertise, public trust, and proximity.

Climate change mitigation reforms of government policy, medical curricula, and health professions organizations should be the focus of physician advocacy.

Which distinctions between minimally conscious states and vegetative states should clinicians consider?

When recruiting physicians from developing countries for U.S. residency training slots there are ethical concerns that program directors and potential residents should be aware of and discuss.

The adverse health effects of climate change should be the focus of physician advocacy efforts and of conversations between physicians and their patients.