Climate change: should family physicians and family medicine organizations pay attention?

In 2007, Val Rachlis, then President of the Ontario College of Family Physicians, challenged organization members in his biweekly communication to consider climate change as a health issue that deserved the attention of Canadian family physicians.1 Responses to his essay included a report on the health effects of climate change2 and a brochure on green solutions in the doctor’s office.3 In this commentary, we will attempt to reinforce this challenge to Canadian family physicians. We will describe the health effects of climate change, both within Canada and internationally, and discuss the various roles that family physicians might need to consider playing in the years ahead.