"You cannot be what you cannot see": we need visible nursing role models shaping a healthier planetary future for all.

Abstract

As we delved into our editorial on nurses as leaders in planetary health initiatives, we were eager to highlight real-life examples. However, to our surprise, it proved to be a challenging task. While we were aware of many outstanding projects led by nurses, they often did not explicitly identify themselves as such or mention their RN titles. The fact that some nurses working in the field of planetary health do not identify themselves by their RN titles begs the question of why, as this could be hindering the recognition of this field as a vital aspect of the nursing profession. The nursing profession has traditionally overlooked the importance of environmental issues, only recently beginning to acknowledge the connections between health, social justice, and the natural world. Additionally, nurses working in healthcare may not always realize that the health inequities they see are often related to geography, space, place, and land (Waldron, 2018). This disconnect may be due to the fact that the space has become reductive and alienated from the land, driven by anthropocentrism and the dominance of biomedical health care. These perspectives are pervasive in healthcare and nursing, making it difficult for nurses who prioritize planetary health to find a place within the system. However, these nurses play a critical role in advocating for environmental and climate justice, and serving as role models for future nurses who are dedicated to this cause. They work tirelessly to carve out a space for themselves and for the people who are most impacted by environmental injustices, moving against the status quo to create a more just and sustainable future. A decision to use an RN title in one’s signature as part of self-identification is a personal choice and there is no right or wrong answer but there are consequences to each decision. The reasons for choosing not to disclose that one is a nurse may be guided by humility, where nurses may prefer to be seen as part of an interdisciplinary team rather than as a leader or authority figure thus eliminating the hierarchical distance between themselves and their colleagues or patients. When working in a community, specifically in climate adaptation and mitigation, a nurse is only present until the community can take on the work themselves, preferring to stay in the background. However, once the work is completed, nurses tend not to speak of it or share it. It is also possible that some nurses do not realize the importance or value of using their RN title in terms of that this is a professional title reflective of education, training, and expertise unique to nursing practice or its value to elevate the nursing profession. It is also possible that some nurses have completed additional degrees that are more relevant to their research career, so they chose that title instead. By using more generic titles, such as PhD, it may be that nurses are simply intending to signal their additional education and expertise and to be more inclusive and collaborative with others who may simply prefer to work with other PhD qualified experts. However, if we look at our medical colleagues, it is common to see MD, PhD. So why don’t we see RN, PhD more often? The problem of not identifying as an RN is that we, as nurses, continue to make the nursing profession and our work invisible. We use our nursing expertise to