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Coalition Launches NEW Video - The way forward is reusable: Demonstrating Canadian opportunities for safe, secure, and sustainable PPE | |
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With funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada, the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care worked on a project to demonstrate that hospital-generated PPE can be successfully managed by applying principles of the circular economy, and through cycles of reuse in particular.
The Coalition hopes this video will break down misconceptions regarding reusable PPE, incite discussion on sustainability and waste reduction in health care, and inspire health care workers to advocate for reusable PPE systems in their facilities.
This video could not be possible without the support and collaboration of health care workers across Canada. Thank you for your participation.
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The Coalition is recognized as a 2022 Climate Champion
For the fourth year in a row the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care has won an award in the the Health Care Climate Challenge!
We have received the gold award for Climate Leadership, recognizing the Coalition as a global leader in advancing climate-smart health care.
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Take our readership survey
As we look forward to the new year, the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care would like to hear from our readers regarding the content of our newsletter, The Green Digest. Your feedback will guide us in ensuring our team provides the best possible product for your reading pleasure.
If you have additional questions or comments please contact autumn@greenhealthcare.ca
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Introducing Healthcare LCA
The new HealthcareLCA database serves as an up-to-date evidence repository, bringing together new and existing assessments into one publicly accessible location.
The platform allows users to sort, search and filter data according to their individual needs and interests.
On January 18th, 2023, join HealthcareLCA’s creators for an interactive introduction to this exciting new tool.
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2023 ENERGY STAR® Canada Awards
The ENERGY STAR Canada Awards recognize organisations that have made outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through superior energy achievements in Canada.
Starting January 5th, 2023 ENERGY STAR Canada Participants have been invited to apply.
Let Natural Resources Canada recognize your outstanding achievements in promoting ENERGY STAR certified products and new homes in Canada!
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CleanMed 2023 Awards and Scholarships | |
Emerging Physician Leader Award and Scholarship
The Emerging Physician Leader Award and Scholarship was established in 2018 by the Health Care Without Harm Physician Network, recognizing the importance of mentoring and supporting the next generation of physician sustainability champions.
Learn more and apply
The Blair and Georgia Sadler Fellowship at Health Care Without Harm
Thanks to a generous gift from Blair and Georgia Sadler, Health Care Without Harm established the annual Blair and Georgie Sadler Fellowship in 2022, providing an opportunity for emerging clinical health leaders who want to work on equitable, climate smart health care in their hospitals and communities.
Learn more and apply
Stephanie Davis Award and Scholarship
The Stephanie Davis Waste Reduction and Pollution Prevention Award and Scholarship is a tribute to Davis, who worked with Health Care Without Harm at its inception in 1996. Davis was a tireless champion of the movement toward sustainable health care who worked to reduce waste and eliminate the use of harmful chemicals and materials in health care products and processes.
Learn more and apply
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Release of RETScreen® Version 9.0
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Version 9 of the RETScreen® Clean Energy Management Software platform was released on October 13th, 2022 and is now available for download from the RETScreen website. This update has arrived with a number of salient new features to enhance the RETScreen experience!
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Health care CEOs need to cut out CO2 from their supply chain
Sustainability
When published studies found that smoking clearly caused cancer, many physicians went from being smokers to becoming “leaders by example,” by quitting smoking and acknowledging the health hazards of the addictive habit. They helped launch a “war on smoking” after publication of the AMA’s 1972 War on Cancer report.
Today, health care workers should be leading the War on Climate Change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions caused by the health sector, particularly those caused by hospital supply chains (known as “Scope 3 emissions) that drive the majority of emissions that cause climate change.
The pollution our hospitals generate is literally killing patient.
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Climate change and health: A 2-week course for medical students to inspire change
The Lancet
The educational sector plays a pivotal role in harnessing both intersectoral and integrated responses, and in providing a shared platform for understanding what needs to be done to address climate change and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Here researchers describe a 2-week elective course on climate change and health in a planetary perspective, delivered to third-year medical students at the University of Oslo in 2022.
The overarching aim was to help students develop a nuanced understanding of how they can use health arguments to convey the urgency of climate action and raise awareness of the roles that health-care systems and health professionals can play to protect health and stay within sustainable planetary boundaries.
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Manufacturing, importing straws and other single-use plastics now banned
iPolitics
Canada’s ban on the manufacture and import for sale of some plastic items, including grocery bags and straws, has taken effect.
As of December 20th, 2022, companies can no longer produce or bring into Canada plastic checkout bags, cutlery, stir sticks, straws and takeout containers — and in a year, it will also be illegal to sell them.
The manufacturing and import ban will extend to the plastic rings used to package six-packs of canned drinks next June and their sale will be prohibited a year after that.
The federal government estimates that getting rid of the single-use plastics will eliminate 1.3 million tonnes of difficult-to-recycle plastic waste and a million garbage bags’ worth of pollution.
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New resources to support sustainable procurement in health care
Health Care Without Harm
Sustainable procurement criteria and guidelines are a fundamental building block of a comprehensive sustainability program. The choice of which products to buy, and their environmental and social attributes, are critical when evaluating the environmental impact of health care delivery.
Strong sustainability criteria help improve the sustainability of the sector and help institutions meet their goals. Together, hospitals and health care systems across the globe can use their purchasing power to increase demand for products that reduce harm for people and the planet.
Health Care Without Harm works with hospitals and experts around the world, and together we have developed five new quick guides that analyze and evaluate procurement criteria and tender specifications for gloves and disinfectant products.
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Montreal hospital project provides free meals to the vulnerable | |
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Montreal’s Notre-Dame Hospital is on more than just a mission to treat patients, but to help them too with a new project: Hospital Solidaire.
Hospital Solidaire will allow vulnerable people using their health services to have access to free hot meals in their cafeteria.
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The UK's first hospital to be completely powered by solar energy | |
The UK has its first hospital to be completely powered by its own renewable energy during daylight hours. The advancement of sustainability in health care provides a key precedent for a greener future for the NHS.
Castle Hill Hospital in Cottingham, East Yorkshire has become the first hospital in the UK run solely from renewable energy, provided by its very own solar panel field. Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust began installing solar panels on land adjacent to the hospital site in September 2021. It took five months to install, but now a local hospital trust’s investment in solar technology is paying dividends.
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Bird Canada swoops in to rescue Bird Global; merger puts Canadian management and investors in control
Electric Autonomy
Bird Canada, a leading Toronto-based electric scooter and bike-sharing company, is saving its financially struggling Miami-based international counterpart, Bird Global, in a merger that will provide Bird Global with US$32 million in capital.
The deal, first announced in late December and closed on January 3rd, will also see the installation of new Canadian management at Bird Global in the roles of president, chief financial officer and vice-president, corporate development and strategy, and give Bird Canada’s funders five of nine seats on Bird Global’s board of directors.
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Study shows EVs potential to increase utility revenues, reduce customer costs
Electric Autonomy
Canadian utility operators and their customers take note. Adoption of more electric vehicles is helping to reduce electricity rates in California, according to a recent study by Synapse Energy Economics, an Environmental consulting firm based in Massachusetts.
The report, entitled Electric Vehicles Are Driving Rates Down, looked at three California utility companies that served more than 735,000 households with EVs. When looking at the costs of providing electricity to those vehicles, compared with the revenue generated by them, the results showed that between 2012 and 2021, the utilities made $1.7 billion in excess profit.
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Canadian prototype EV Project Arrow vehicle unveiled at CES in Las Vegas
CBC News
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The big gamble by the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association (APMA) played out in Las Vegas last week.
Project Arrow, the high-tech concept vehicle produced with content from 50 parts suppliers in Canada, was unveiled at the consumer electronics show known as CES on January 5th, 2023.
For now, there are no plans to mass produce the vehicle. The Arrow was built to showcase the Canadian auto industry's ability to manufacture electric vehicles.
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Need and interest in nature prescriptions to protect cardiovascular and mental health
Health, Lung and Circulation Journal
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“Nature prescriptions” are increasingly being adopted by health sectors as an adjunct to standard care to attend to health and social needs. Researchers investigated levels of need and interest in nature prescriptions in adults with cardiovascular diseases, psychological distress and concomitants (e.g. physical inactivity, sedentary behaviour, obesity, loneliness, burn-out).
Increased visitation to green and blue spaces (e.g. parks and lakes) seen in some countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as Australia, has intensified interest in long-established benefits of nature. Contact with nature mitigates harms (e.g. by regulating air quality), restores depleted cognitive capacities, alleviates stress, reduces loneliness and encourages regular health behaviours such as physical activity.
Meta-analyses indicate interventions that enable people to spend more time in nature increase levels of physical activity and lower risks of depression, anxiety, and high blood pressure, providing a compelling and urgent case to support harnessing nature in health care.
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EVENTS, TRAINING AND WEBINARS | |
Crossroads Interdisciplinary Health Research Conference | |
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Now in its 19th iteration, Crossroads has grown to a nation-wide, peer-reviewed academic conference that receives submissions from diverse, health-related disciplines across the country.
Crossroads provides a forum for interdisciplinary learning and collaboration between students and experts in health-related fields.
Registration for Crossroads 2023 is now open. Early bird rates will end February 3 and the awards banquet will be capped at the first 120 registrants
The date of the conference is March 10th - March 11th , 2023.
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Ontario’s Energy Efficiency Incentives for Hydronic Heating/Cooling/Plumbing Systems – Converting Opportunities to Successful Projects | |
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To help you optimize your 2023 plans for building energy reduction, Armstrong is hosting a webinar event in partnership with Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO).
In less than an hour, they will present and explain the IESO incentive programs. They will also show how fluid-flow and optimization technologies applied to hydronic heating/cooling and domestic water boosting systems provide great ROI and reduce CO2 emissions.
Date: January 17th
Time: 11:00 am EST
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EV Innovation and Technology Conference | |
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This one-day in-person event will bring together the brightest minds working to accelerate and transform electric vehicle manufacturing in Canada.
Why should you attend?
- Understand the fundamental linchpins of the North American EV supply chain.
- Meet Canadian companies working on cutting-edge technology.
- Discover opportunities to collaborate as we develop national capabilities for advanced manufacturing.
Venue: Barrett Centre for Technology Innovation, Toronto
Date: February 8th, 2023
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International Congress for Academic Medicine | |
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Registration is now open for the International Congress on academic (ICAM).
ICAM is the first international gathering dedicated to academic medicine. It will be the place for the academic medicine community to meet, network, and develop new relationships and collaborations with colleagues from around the world.
ICAM will showcase innovation and scholarship in medical education and health research. Medical students, residents and graduate students will have the opportunity to present their work, network and connect with medical education and research mentors as well as prospective employers.
Dates: April 13th - April 18th, 2023
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RETScreen® is a Clean Energy Management Software system for energy efficiency, renewable energy and cogeneration project feasibility analysis as well as ongoing energy performance analysis.
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Have you registered as an organ donor?
Contact your local organ donation agency and speak to your family about your wishes. You have the power to save and transform lives.
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The Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care is Canada’s premier green health care resource network, leading the evolution of green in Canada’s health sector as a national voice and catalyst for environmental change. www.greenhealthcare.ca | |
Some articles referred to in the Digest make reference to services and/or product offerings from specific suppliers. The CCGHC recommends that readers research the service and product offerings available through a wider range of suppliers for comparison purposes and in keeping with public sector purchasing guidelines. These articles should not be interpreted as an endorsement of any product or service. | | | | |
