ANA Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation® Spotlight: Teddie Potter, PhD, RN, FAAN, FNAP
Published
Nurse shares how improving our planet’s health is possible — and the role nurses can play in changing Earth’s fate
Novelist and Nobel Prize winner Ernest Hemingway once said, “The Earth is a fine place and worth fighting for.”
And #healthynurse Dr. Teddie Potter has spent her career doing just that.
Dr. Potter is the director of the Center for Planetary Health and Environmental Justice at the School of Nursing at the University of Minnesota. She leads a passionate and growing movement to integrate environmental health into the practice of nursing.
Climate Change as a Health Issue
From the early years of her nursing career, Dr. Potter focused on ways she could prevent and alleviate suffering as much as possible. In the late 1990s, she began noticing evidence of climate change in her home state of Minnesota. She immediately realized the danger it could pose to public health.
“I saw disruptions in ancient environmental patterns that I had experienced my entire life,” she recalls. “I remember waking up on Christmas morning in 1999, and it was pouring rain. It was the first time that I experienced rain instead of snow on Christmas in Minnesota.”
Dr. Potter also witnessed changes in bird migration patterns and growth cycles of perennial plants. These changes alerted her that something was amiss.
“As I did more study, it was apparent that climate change was going to be a huge health issue.”
As Dr. Potter became more involved in the climate change movement, she started to understand that the problem was bigger than climate.
“The realization hit that we were facing much more than climate change,” she continues. “There were also signs of biodiversity loss, pollution, and plastics and waste issues. That was when I learned about Planetary Health.”
Planetary Health: Creating a World Where All Can Thrive
Launched in 2015, Planetary Health is both a field of study and a global environmental movement. It seeks to understand and address the ways our environment impacts human health. Human-caused changes to our planet now threaten our health and well-being, along with the health and well-being of all life.
When Planetary Health launched, Dr. Potter had already been actively working to stop climate change for a decade.
“I read the Rockefeller Foundation-Lancet Commission’s 2015 paper on Planetary Health, and immediately recognized it as an approach I wanted to take,” she says.
The movement’s central organization, Planetary Health Alliance, comprises a growing network of academic institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), research institutes, and government entities. The organization’s members represent more than 75 countries that are committed to creating a more habitable planet.
“I became involved very early, when Planetary Health was quite small,” says Dr. Potter. “Since then, it has grown into a global movement. It’s very rewarding to see.”
The 5 Domains of Planetary Health
The framework of Planetary Health is built on 5 interdependent pillars:
Planetary Health and Nursing: A Natural Connection
“Planetary health is about fighting for something, rather than against something,” Dr. Potter says. That is the aspect of the movement she found most inspiring. Rather than working “against” those who didn’t believe in the threat of climate change, Dr. Potter began exploring ways to make a positive difference.
In her quest to improve our planet’s health, Dr. Potter examined how humans might shift the behaviors that have damaged it.
“To me, an obvious place to start was nursing,” she says. “Nurses are good at influencing human behaviors. They’re educators, and people listen to them and follow them. I started looking at how we can nurse differently and prepare people for a different future.”
Dr. Potter also realized that Planetary Health was something that could be applied to nursing in any setting. She considered ways to incorporate the movement’s teachings into the curriculum at the University of Minnesota’s School of Nursing and other nursing schools, and a new program took shape.
Nursing for Planetary Health Program
In 2022, Dr. Potter contacted the president of the International Council of Nurses about launching Planetary Health within nursing.
“The president responded by saying the Council recognized the urgency of addressing climate change’s threats to human health and was ready to work with me,” she recalls.
The next step was to outline the program. Dr. Potter gathered other nursing leaders together to create the framework.
“We had a choice,” she says. “We could set it up as a specialty within nursing. Or we could create a program called Nursing for Planetary Health and hope all nurses would pivot to the change. Rather than a specialty, it would become foundational to nursing and the way we practice.”
Nursing for Planetary Health officially launched at the 2023 Congress of the International Council of Nurses. Dr. Potter now directs the Center for Planetary Health and Environmental Justice at the School of Nursing at the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Potter says she may have been the first director of Planetary Health for a nursing program, but she isn’t the last. “Since that point in time, I’ve talked with many people who want to step into that role and incorporate Planetary Health into their own university curriculum.”
How Nurses Can Contribute to Planetary Health
According to Dr. Potter, at the individual level, nurses can contribute to creating a healthier planet with their own choices and behaviors.
“When you understand the foundation of Planetary Health, you walk through the world differently,” she says. “You shop, make purchases, eat, even choose transportation in a new light. And when people see you making these choices, they might, too.”
Nurses also influence decisions within health care organizations. Dr. Potter says nurses can have a voice in how their organization purchases products, the food they serve, even resources like electricity.
On a larger scale, Dr. Potter recommends getting involved with professional organizations like the American Nurses Association.
“Nurses can join their ANA state nurses associations and get involved in shaping the future of our planet,” she says. “Instead of reacting to disasters, we can work together and lead this movement to prevent disasters and create positive change for all people and life.”
Teddie Potter, PhD, RN, FAAN, FNAP is a clinical professor and director of the Center for Planetary Health and Environmental Justice at the School of Nursing at the University of Minnesota. She also co-founded Nursing for Planetary Health, a global nursing movement.
Want to know more about planetary and environmental health? Here are some actions nurses and their nurses associations can take to combat climate change.
Have you joined Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation (HNHN) yet? Join today!
Sign up for our monthly challenges!
And #healthynurse Dr. Teddie Potter has spent her career doing just that.
Dr. Potter is the director of the Center for Planetary Health and Environmental Justice at the School of Nursing at the University of Minnesota. She leads a passionate and growing movement to integrate environmental health into the practice of nursing.
Climate Change as a Health Issue
From the early years of her nursing career, Dr. Potter focused on ways she could prevent and alleviate suffering as much as possible. In the late 1990s, she began noticing evidence of climate change in her home state of Minnesota. She immediately realized the danger it could pose to public health.
“I saw disruptions in ancient environmental patterns that I had experienced my entire life,” she recalls. “I remember waking up on Christmas morning in 1999, and it was pouring rain. It was the first time that I experienced rain instead of snow on Christmas in Minnesota.”
Dr. Potter also witnessed changes in bird migration patterns and growth cycles of perennial plants. These changes alerted her that something was amiss.
“As I did more study, it was apparent that climate change was going to be a huge health issue.”
As Dr. Potter became more involved in the climate change movement, she started to understand that the problem was bigger than climate.
“The realization hit that we were facing much more than climate change,” she continues. “There were also signs of biodiversity loss, pollution, and plastics and waste issues. That was when I learned about Planetary Health.”
Planetary Health: Creating a World Where All Can Thrive
Launched in 2015, Planetary Health is both a field of study and a global environmental movement. It seeks to understand and address the ways our environment impacts human health. Human-caused changes to our planet now threaten our health and well-being, along with the health and well-being of all life.
When Planetary Health launched, Dr. Potter had already been actively working to stop climate change for a decade.
“I read the Rockefeller Foundation-Lancet Commission’s 2015 paper on Planetary Health, and immediately recognized it as an approach I wanted to take,” she says.
The movement’s central organization, Planetary Health Alliance, comprises a growing network of academic institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), research institutes, and government entities. The organization’s members represent more than 75 countries that are committed to creating a more habitable planet.
“I became involved very early, when Planetary Health was quite small,” says Dr. Potter. “Since then, it has grown into a global movement. It’s very rewarding to see.”
The 5 Domains of Planetary Health
The framework of Planetary Health is built on 5 interdependent pillars:
- Interconnection within nature: Humans are not separate from Nature; we are Nature. The way we treat the planet affects us, our children, and future generations.
- Anthropocene and health: Humans have damaged the planet. The environmental changes and shifts we currently experience aren’t natural; they are human-made.
- System thinking and complexity: The problems with our planet can’t be solved by changing one small aspect. We must consider how everything interconnects, and how each action we take affects all parts of the ecosystem.
- Equity and justice: The people who contribute the least to the destruction of the planet often suffer the consequences first, and most.
- Movement building: Planetary health requires shifting the structures and behaviors of our society.
Planetary Health and Nursing: A Natural Connection
“Planetary health is about fighting for something, rather than against something,” Dr. Potter says. That is the aspect of the movement she found most inspiring. Rather than working “against” those who didn’t believe in the threat of climate change, Dr. Potter began exploring ways to make a positive difference.
In her quest to improve our planet’s health, Dr. Potter examined how humans might shift the behaviors that have damaged it.
“To me, an obvious place to start was nursing,” she says. “Nurses are good at influencing human behaviors. They’re educators, and people listen to them and follow them. I started looking at how we can nurse differently and prepare people for a different future.”
Dr. Potter also realized that Planetary Health was something that could be applied to nursing in any setting. She considered ways to incorporate the movement’s teachings into the curriculum at the University of Minnesota’s School of Nursing and other nursing schools, and a new program took shape.
Nursing for Planetary Health Program
In 2022, Dr. Potter contacted the president of the International Council of Nurses about launching Planetary Health within nursing.
“The president responded by saying the Council recognized the urgency of addressing climate change’s threats to human health and was ready to work with me,” she recalls.
The next step was to outline the program. Dr. Potter gathered other nursing leaders together to create the framework.
“We had a choice,” she says. “We could set it up as a specialty within nursing. Or we could create a program called Nursing for Planetary Health and hope all nurses would pivot to the change. Rather than a specialty, it would become foundational to nursing and the way we practice.”
Nursing for Planetary Health officially launched at the 2023 Congress of the International Council of Nurses. Dr. Potter now directs the Center for Planetary Health and Environmental Justice at the School of Nursing at the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Potter says she may have been the first director of Planetary Health for a nursing program, but she isn’t the last. “Since that point in time, I’ve talked with many people who want to step into that role and incorporate Planetary Health into their own university curriculum.”
How Nurses Can Contribute to Planetary Health
According to Dr. Potter, at the individual level, nurses can contribute to creating a healthier planet with their own choices and behaviors.
“When you understand the foundation of Planetary Health, you walk through the world differently,” she says. “You shop, make purchases, eat, even choose transportation in a new light. And when people see you making these choices, they might, too.”
Nurses also influence decisions within health care organizations. Dr. Potter says nurses can have a voice in how their organization purchases products, the food they serve, even resources like electricity.
On a larger scale, Dr. Potter recommends getting involved with professional organizations like the American Nurses Association.
“Nurses can join their ANA state nurses associations and get involved in shaping the future of our planet,” she says. “Instead of reacting to disasters, we can work together and lead this movement to prevent disasters and create positive change for all people and life.”
Teddie Potter, PhD, RN, FAAN, FNAP is a clinical professor and director of the Center for Planetary Health and Environmental Justice at the School of Nursing at the University of Minnesota. She also co-founded Nursing for Planetary Health, a global nursing movement.
Want to know more about planetary and environmental health? Here are some actions nurses and their nurses associations can take to combat climate change.
Have you joined Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation (HNHN) yet? Join today!
Sign up for our monthly challenges!
Blog #healthynurse Spotlight
11/07/2024 4:07pm CST
The #healthynurse Spotlight is a shout out to nurses who are making changes in their lives to improve their health and wellness. You can too! Read their stories for inspiration here.
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