Climate Justice Perspectives and Experiences of Nurses and Their Community Partners

The global climate crisis is an immediate threat, causing inequitable health impacts across different populations. Climate justice connects the causes and effects of climate change to structural injustices in society. Nurses and community-based organizations (CBOs) partner in promoting justice and health equity. The purpose of this article is to describe how nurses and their CBO partners envision, perceive, and experience climate justice in the communities they serve. Participants were recruited via a screening survey sent to nursing and public health organizations in the United States. This descriptive mixed-methods study utilized participatory photo mapping (i.e., combined participatory photography, community mapping, and interviews) to capture participants’ understanding and experiences of climate justice. Recruitment methods identified eight partnerships across six states. Participants depicted how climate injustice is reinforced by colonial severance from Nature. Participants noted that state violence and corporate climate pollution degraded the public's health. Climate justice was described as a long struggle to regain spiritual relationships within Nature, fostering belonging, abundance, and protected communities of care. Planetary health and well-being were central to participants’ experiences with climate justice. Future research could explore barriers and facilitators to addressing climate injustice and promoting climate justice in diverse settings.