To Republican Senator William Frist, who began his career not in politics but medicine, taking on the climate crisis was a natural next step after stepping down as Tennessee Senator in 2007. “It comes back to the same thing: improving the well-being of people by focusing on their health,” says Frist, who joined the Senate in 1995 before serving as Senate Majority Leader from 2003 to 2007.
To this end, last year he partnered with the Nature Conservatory to establish the Senator Bill and Tracy Frist Initiative for Planetary and Human Health, which aims to bridge public health solutions and the climate crisis. Focusing on communicating the health impacts of climate change—which range from an increase in mental health crises to heightened risk of respiratory and cardiovascular disease—says Frist, is all about showing people that climate is not a partisan issue.