Local opinion: Vote for the health of our community

I am a retired physician who had the great honor and privilege of practicing in the Tucson community for over 20 years. Having lost family and friends to lung cancer, one of my most rewarding practice activities involved detecting small asymptomatic and potentially curable lung cancers on screening chest CT scans before they became larger symptomatic and often lethal tumors. While smoking causes most lung cancers, other risk factors include exposure to diesel exhaust and fine particulate matter air pollution, much of which is from fossil-fuel combustion.

Air pollution from fossil fuels is the major cause of climate change. Climate change is recognized by many medical societies worldwide as the greatest threat to public health. Health risks from climate change include those directly related to air pollution and, especially here in Arizona, dangerous heat. A recent white paper from the University of Arizona Making Action Possible (MAP) Dashboard (mapazdashboard.arizona.edu) reports that "Southern Arizona is in the midst of an epidemic of heat-related deaths," with heat-related deaths increasing tenfold in the past 20 years in Maricopa County to a remarkable 645 deaths in 2023. Although Pima County in 2023 was about 7 degrees cooler than Maricopa County, its heat-related death rate was nearly as high as that of Maricopa County, indicating that for yet undetermined reasons Pima County residents are more susceptible to heat-related deaths occurring at relatively lower temperatures.

Air pollution from fossil fuels contributes to an increasingly recognized and growing spectrum of illnesses, including asthma, other chronic heart and lung diseases, elevated risks of heart attacks and strokes, preterm birth, low birth weight, neuro-developmental harm to children, and neuro-degenerative harm to older adults, among many others. Worldwide, an estimated over 5 million excess deaths per year are caused by air pollution from fossil fuels and could potentially be avoided by phasing out fossil fuels.

The harm to our health from air pollution and climate change disproportionately effects our most vulnerable people, including infants, children, pregnant women, the elderly, people with chronic illnesses, outdoor workers, and people in low-income communities and communities of color.

Existing policy solution pathways that can protect our climate and our health include transitioning to clean renewable energy, clean transportation options, and increased electrification of buildings and homes. While the global climate benefits of such policies will take years to happen, the local health benefits from reduced air pollution grow almost immediately in those communities that do take actions.

As most Arizonans want healthy communities and a healthy climate, who could possibly oppose taking climate actions that would in short order improve our local community health? Well, it's primarily the fossil fuel company CEOs, their lobbyists, and our politicians who are in the pocket of the fossil fuel industry.

Research has shown that states with more inclusive voting policies and greater levels of civic participation through voting are healthier in multiple public health indicators (democracyindex.hdhp.us). The greatest thing that we as individuals can do now for a faster transition to clean energy for a healthier community is to vote, to demonstrate our collective political will for a better future for ourselves and, more importantly, for our children.

We must vote for every race on our ballots, from the Presidency to the Arizona Corporation Commission. We must vote only for candidates who support a clean energy future and reject those candidates who spread the disinformation that climate change is a hoax and who merely accept the status quo.

I'm going to vote for the health of our community, for the candidates who will bring us a cleaner, healthier future in Arizona, and I hope that you do too.

Dr. Mark Peterson is a retired Tucson physician interested in climate, environmental, and health issues.

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