Should health professionals participate in civil disobedience in response to the climate change health emergency?

Abstract

Climate change is a global health emergency and a growing ethical crisis,¹·² and well planned climate action brings opportunities to improve health, equity, and human rights³·⁴·⁵·⁶·⁷. In the face of continued inaction, citizens are turning to civil disobedience to persuade governments to act more urgently⁸. Civil disobedience is public, non-violent action in breach of the law, which is aimed at changing the law or policies of the government. Such action is an act of conscience, and participants accept possible punishment. Health professionals are beginning to advocate for⁹ and participate in these actions¹⁰·¹¹. Several movements for social change have taken civil disobedience action¹²·¹³, but participation by health workers in their professional capacity could involve risks, and relatively little has been written to assist decision making about whether to participate. In this Viewpoint, we apply a framework to guide decision making by considering whether climate change justifies civil disobedience by health professionals as part of our duty of care. The framework comes from a western ethics paradigm, and we acknowledge that many people who relate to this paradigm are relatively protected from early climate–health effects. This protection is not the case for many other people, especially those in climate-vulnerable countries and Indigenous communities. Nonetheless, the framework includes principles that are common currency for health professionals. This article is available free of charge.