National Nurses United

RNs across the country are fighting fossil fuel projects with the understanding that climate disruption poses a danger not only to their patients' health, but the survival of life on earth. BY KARI JONES AND LUCIA HWANG egistered nurses are healers, carers, counselors, teachers, and multitasking wonders. But they are also, at their core, scientists. Specifically, they are experts in human biology, always asking the question, "What nur- tures and sustains, or harms and ends human life?" In pursuit of that question, nurses can't help but find themselves in agreement with a global scientific commu- nity that recognizes that massive climate disruption, caused by unchecked human extraction and burning of fossil fuels, undoubt- edly poses the biggest imminent danger to the survival of our species that we currently face. The dangers of climate disruption take many medical forms, from more communicable diseases due to the spread of insects in warmer climates, to deaths from respiratory ailments exacerbated by high rates of particulate matter, to exposure to pow- erful chemicals used to frack natural gas from the inner depths of the earth. "I've always been into the science," said Laura Dominguez, an RN who works as a forensic nurse at Valley Baptist Medical Cen- ter in Harlingen, Texas. In her nursing specialty, she conducts examinations for the purpose of collecting evidence in the investi- gation of crimes, such as physical and sexual assault, and even studies gunshots. It's also no surprise that, before Dominguez became a registered nurse, she taught middle school science for four years. The fact that humans exist in a living ecosystem is not lost on her. "Any attack on the environment will affect our health, in the air we breathe, the water that we drink, that also goes into areas that are farming, will affect our cattle, pigs, fish, shrimp. We ingest that." For nurses like Dominguez, part of being a nurse in these mod- ern times necessarily means being a climate activist, means being a fighter for environmental justice, means being an advocate for tran- sitioning our energy industry away from fossil fuels into production from solar, wind, and other renewable sources. As a result, it is increasingly just as common to find our National Nurses United members testifying in front of an Environmental Protection Agency board as it is to see them within the walls of the hospital or clinic. From coast to coast, nurses are active in efforts to Texas on may 4, despite months of public outcry—including activists locking themselves to machinery—Energy Transfer Partners (the same company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline) announced that two gas pipelines in West Texas, the Trans-Pecos Pipeline and the Comanche Trail Pipeline, were fully in service. "This is a big, big issue, here in the desert," said Sylvia Sear- foss, RN, of El Paso. "Water is precious here. We want to keep what water we have clean." To that end, Searfoss and her fellow RNs have been working with local groups to resist the oil and gas pipelines in their com- munity, and also to put an end to fracking. "Too many people are already living with the effects of climate change and pollution," said Searfoss. "What we see in the hospital is related to what we see in patients' homes and in the community as a whole. As a nurse, it's my responsibility to get involved." Searfoss has taken part in a divestment demonstration in front of Wells Fargo, to speak out on the importance of pulling 14 N A T I O N A L N U R S E W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G M AY | J U N E 2 0 1 7

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