
Nursing Approach to Environmental and Occupational Health Risks: A Climate Change Perspective
Chapter from the book:
Kaplan,
M.
(ed.)
2025.
Public Health in the Age of Digital Transformation.
Synopsis
This chapter examines the impacts of climate change on environmental and occupational health from a nursing perspective, comprehensively discussing the roles nurses assume and the risks they encounter in this context. Climate-related challenges such as rising temperatures, air pollution, water scarcity, and increased frequency of disasters not only threaten public health but also adversely affect nurses’ working conditions. Nurses play multifaceted roles in identifying environmental health risks, risk communication, advocacy, and policy development. From an occupational health standpoint, nurses face physical, chemical, biological, and psychosocial hazards, necessitating systematic approaches for their protection. To enable nurses to take an active role in climate change adaptation and risk mitigation, it is essential to enhance their environmental health literacy, restructure educational programs, and promote evidence-based interventions. Within this framework, nursing is positioned not only as a profession centered on individual care but also as one bearing the responsibility of contributing to the construction of sustainable and resilient communities.