About the Author:
Dileep Kumar is an MScN student at the Aga Khan University, with a strong interest in environmental health, sustainability, and public awareness about climate change. Inspired by Florence Nightingale and her Environmental Theory, the author believes that a clean and healthy environment is essential for human well-being. Through this blog on United Nations SDG 13: Climate Action, the author aims to highlight the connection between healthcare, environmental responsibility, and sustainable living.
When you imagine Florence
Nightingale, you may assume her as the “lady with the Lamp” a dedicated nurse
moving across a gloomy Crimean War hospital, comforting injured soldiers
(Turkowski & Turkowski, 2024). You may not immediately believe that she was
the pioneer for “Climate Action”. Yet long before the United Nations introduced
Sustainable Development Goal 13-Climate Action. Nightingale had understood the
fundamental truth much earlier which rest of the world is now waking up to that
human health is entirely inseparable from the health of our environment (Moraes
Filho & Tavares, 2024).
The
core of Nightingale’s Environmental Theory
In Notes on Nursing (1859),
she laid out a revolutionary premise, that the Nurse’s primary job is to put
the patient in the best possible condition for nature to act upon them. She
believed that poor health wasn’t just a personal fault or bad luck; it was a
direct result of a compromised environment. Although theory was generated in
nineteenth century, it is applicable and has more significance to the current
era of climate change and environmental crisis. She identified five essential
components of a healthy environment (Rahim, 2013; Stringer, 2014).
- 1. Pure air
- 2. Pure water
- 3. Efficient drainage and sanitation
- 4. Cleanliness
- 5. Light (sunlight)
Fast Forward to Today: SDG 13 and the Environment as a Global Patient
Today, our planet is in critical
condition. Changing climate patterns are direct threat to the global
environment, affecting every ecosystem, economy and community. One of the most
alarming aspects is its effect on public health. Recent years have shown record
economic loss and widespread environmental destruction. Global warming
exacerbates frequency of natural disasters, rising temperatures, pollutes air, while
extreme weather conditions cause dehydration and heat stroke, displaced
thousands of families and destroyed homes, affected livelihood, contamination
of supplies and drainage systems. The UN’s SDG-13 Climate Action is urging
countries, communities and individuals to take urgent steps to combat climate
change and its impacts. SDG 13 reflects Nightingale’s vision on a
global scale: protecting the environment is necessary to protect human life, the connection between her theory
and SDG-13 is crystal clear because Greenhouse effect is destroying very
foundations Nightingale protected.
Nightingale’s
Components
|
The Current
Climate Reality (SDG 13)
|
|
Pure Air |
Fossil fuel combustion wildfires
cause severe air pollution, which pose respiratory problems kill thousands
annually. |
|
Pure water |
Extreme floods contaminate
existing water supplies, and droughts caused by climate change deplete water
sources, endangering sanitation worldwide. |
|
Efficient Drainage |
Modern infrastructure is unable
to handle rising sea levels and severe storms, which cause urban flooding and
stagnant water. |
|
Light & Temperature |
Severe heatwaves disrupt the
natural balance of ecosystems and put direct, fatal threats to human biology. |
Nightingale identified the
environment as an active agent in healing. If she was alive, she would likely
view the planet as our collective patient (Moraes Filho & Tavares, 2024;
Rahim, 2013). Her legacy portrays protecting the environment as the foundation
of healthcare (Stringer, 2014). This is not only duty of politicians and
scientists to care about SDG 13. It is universal responsibility whether you are
a healthcare professional, an engineer, an educator or a concerned citizen,
taking care of environment is the ultimate form of caregiving (Moraes Filho
& Tavares, 2024). The planet’s health and our own are inseparable. The
environment heals when we protect it. The questions: will we act with the same
courage Nightingale showed?
Nightingale’s
theory remains a timely reminder that healthy environments are essential for
healthy lives.
References
Turkowski, Y., & Turkowski, V.
(2024). Florence Nightingale (1820-1910): The founder of modern nursing. Cureus,
16. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.66192
Moraes Filho, I. M. d., &
Tavares, G. G. (2024). Current and future nursing in promoting planetary
health: Actions for sustainable development. Texto & Contexto -
Enfermagem, 33, Article e20230415. https://doi.org/10.1590/1980-265x-tce-2023-0415en
Filho, W. L., Wall, T., Salvia, A.
L., Dinis, M. A. P., & Mifsud, M. (2023). The central role of climate
action in achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. Scientific
Reports, 13, Article 20353. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-47746-w
Stringer, M. (2014). The effect of
environment on nursing and health promotion for women. Journal of Obstetric,
Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing, 43(4), 541–542. https://doi.org/10.1111/1552-6909.12501
Rahim, S. (2013). Clinical
application of Nightingale's environmental theory. i-manager’s Journal on
Nursing, 3(1), 43–46. https://doi.org/10.26634/jnur.3.1.2229
Nightingale, F. (1859). Notes on nursing: What it is, and what it is not. Harrison.
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