Post-Graduate Medicine, Internal Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, London, Ontario, Canada.
Department of Medicine, Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
PLoS One. 2023 Sep 12;18(9):e0291501. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0291501. eCollection 2023.
Combating climate change may be the greatest public health opportunity of the 21st century. While physicians play an important role in addressing climate change, given their affluence in society, they may be an important source of greenhouse gas emissions themselves. We sought to examine the size and nature of the ecological footprint of physicians and medical students. We conducted an online survey from December 2021-May 2022 examining resource consumption, changes in consumption patterns over time, and beliefs about climate change. Participants were medical students, residents, and staff physicians in Canada, India, or USA. Only 20 out of 162 valid respondents had a low ecological footprint (12%), defined as meat intake ≤2 times per week, living in an apartment or condominium, and using public transport, bicycle, motorcycle or walking to work. 14 of these 20 participants were from India. 91% of participants were open to reducing their own ecological footprint, though only 40% had made changes in that regard. 49% participants who discussed climate change at work and at home had decreased their ecological footprint, compared to 29% of participants who rarely engaged in such conversations (OR 2.39, 95% CI 1.24-4.63, P = 0.01). We conclude that physicians have a large ecological footprint, especially those from Canada and USA. A majority of physicians are interested in reducing their ecological footprint, and those who engage in conversations around climate change are more likely to have done so. Talking frequently about climate change, at work and at home, will likely increase climate change action amongst physicians.
应对气候变化可能是 21 世纪最大的公共卫生机遇。虽然医生在应对气候变化方面发挥着重要作用，鉴于他们在社会中的地位，他们自己可能也是温室气体排放的重要来源。我们试图研究医生和医学生的生态足迹的规模和性质。我们于 2021 年 12 月至 2022 年 5 月进行了一项在线调查，调查内容包括资源消耗、随着时间的推移消费模式的变化以及对气候变化的看法。参与者是加拿大、印度或美国的医学生、住院医师和执业医师。在 162 份有效回复中，只有 20 人（12%）的生态足迹较低，定义为每周肉类摄入量≤2 次、居住在公寓或共管公寓中、使用公共交通工具、自行车、摩托车或步行上班。这 20 名参与者中有 14 人来自印度。91%的参与者愿意减少自己的生态足迹，但只有 40%的人在这方面做出了改变。与很少进行此类对话的参与者（OR 2.39，95%CI 1.24-4.63，P = 0.01）相比，49%的在工作和家庭中讨论气候变化的参与者减少了他们的生态足迹。我们的结论是，医生的生态足迹很大，尤其是来自加拿大和美国的医生。大多数医生有兴趣减少他们的生态足迹，并且那些参与有关气候变化的对话的医生更有可能这样做。经常在家中和工作中谈论气候变化可能会增加医生采取的应对气候变化的行动。
