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 Laura Guidry-Grimes helps us consider whether and which decisions can be shared with people experiencing mental illnesses.

Jorie Braunold joins Ethics Talk to discuss her article: “Fat Norms and the AMA.”

Dr Susan Veldheer joins Ethics Talk to discuss her article, coauthored with Dr Daniel R. George: "Strategies to Help Health Care Organizations Execute Their Food System Leadership Responsibilities.”

Scott Schweikart joins Ethics Talk to discuss his article: “AMA Code of Medical Ethics’ Opinions Related to Clinicians in Government.”

In the September 2014 issue on physicians as agents of social change, Dr. Audiey Kao, editor-in-chief of Virtual Mentor interviewed Dr. Rajiv Shah, administrator of the United States Agency for International Development or USAID.

AMA Journal of Ethics theme editor James Aluri, a third-year medical student at Johns Hopkins University, interviewed Dr. Autumn Fiester, PhD, about strategies for defusing “difficult” patient-clinician relationships.

Harmful biases about people who are overweight persist even among professional care givers.

Dr Paris Adkins-Jackson proposes how to measure racism in academic health centers, as one responsibility of medicine is to rebuild trust with marginalized communities.

Drs Oliva Kates and Monica Gandhi join Ethics Talk to discuss equity and public health messaging in ending the HIV epidemic.