I grew up participating in Boy Scouts, camping as often as I could. I always felt a connection with nature and a need to protect it. My fears about climate change grew after experiencing the wildfire smoke in Ottawa in the summer of 2021. Not only was climate change real; it was happening. I wondered how bad it would be in the future – when my two young boys have grown up. I spent that summer practically incapacitated. I couldn't do much more than just go to work. I was caught in climate anxiety and grief. I wanted to do something, but I felt powerless to change anything and I had no idea where to start.

Late in 2021, I had an opportunity to attend COP26, an international climate conference, in Glasgow, Scotland, through a faith-based environmental conservation group. I met like-minded people from all over the world who had solutions and were taking action (read more in the RNJ Q&A). I came home invigorated and looking to take action. I found colleagues in nursing who were receptive and understood that to truly care for people, we must care for the planet that sustains us. 

RNAO has the organizational infrastructure to call for large-scale system change – and decision makers listen. Our position statement on climate change states “that climate change is an immediate and growing threat to human health. We are in the midst of a climate emergency. Around the world, weather disturbances are causing historic droughts, raging wildfires and severe population dislocation.”