September 1st, 2022

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Green Hospital Scorecard (GHS) Award Webinars 



The Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care will be hosting two webinars to announce our 2021 Green Hospital Scorecard (GHS) winners!

1. Top Performers & Green Hospital of the Year Awards: Wednesday, September 21st, 2022 at 9am PT/12pm ET/1pm AT. Click HERE to register.
2. Energy Efficiency & Energy Behaviour Awards: Thursday, September 22nd, 2022 at 9am PT/ 12pm ET/ 1pm AT. Click HERE to register.

The Net-Zero Challenge 

Achieving net-zero emissions requires support from all parts of our society, including the private sector. Companies operating in Canada have an essential role to play in helping the country achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. To support Canadian companies in reducing their emissions, the Government of Canada launched the Net-Zero Challenge.

The Challenge encourages companies to develop and implement credible and effective plans to transition their facilities and operations to net-zero emissions by 2050. This Challenge builds on the momentum of global initiatives, while offering a made-in-Canada approach.

2023 Fundamentals of Sustainable Health Systems course dates 

New session dates have been released for the Fundamentals of Sustainable Health Systems course.

Fundamental of Sustainable Health Systems is a professional education program for frontline staff, administrators, and leaders within care delivery, professional and support organisations with an interest in harnessing opportunities to achieve high quality, low carbon care.

Registration is currently open for:

• February 7th and 9th, 2023
• June 6th and 8th, 2023
• November 7th and 9th, 2023

You are invited to lend your voice to the climate emergency: Taking action on Planetary Health conference

Present your passion projects and work to the Climate Emergency Conference. They are interested in art, advocacy, education and research in climate change and health. They have a flexible virtual platform to display your work in a way that stimulates curiosity, conversation and community.

The showcase will be available to all registrants before and after the event. The intention is to provide a community space for open discussion amongst conference registrants and help catalyze your project impact.

If you are interested in submitting your work to the showcase, please send a description of your project and proposed plan along with your digital media (maximum 200 words).

Submission due date: Friday, October 4th, 2022

To send in your submission or if you have any questions email [email protected]

Energy Management Support Services 

Save on Energy is offering free energy management support for organisations in Ontario with an individual or individual working to improve energy management  practices or reduce energy consumption.

Services include:

• Courses and other online resources on the Energy Manager’s Learning Platform.
• Technical workshops, virtual networking sessions and other events related to energy management best practices.
• On-demand expert energy and carbon management coaching support, tailored to your  organisation’s needs.
• Facilitated working sessions to help your organisation implement energy management best practices.

There are no requirements to join or stay in the program and as a service provided by the IESO, the support service is provided free of charge to health care organisations.

Complete the online registration form to sign-up.

The life of plastic is a death spiral 

Canada's National Observer 

Who doesn’t regard plastic as a necessity of modern living? It is hard to imagine a life without plastics. But what if we can’t live WITH plastics?

Plastics offer many benefits. From clean water delivery to food packaging to public health and medical devices, the development of plastics and their uses have been beneficial. But it isn’t all good news.

Humans and the environment are suffering from serious adverse health outcomes linked to plastics. Are the benefits worth the risks?

New data confirms: Forest fires are getting worse

World Resources Institute

New data on forest fires confirms what we’ve long feared: Forest fires are becoming more widespread, burning nearly twice as much tree cover today as they did 20 years ago.

Researchers calculated that forest fires now result in 3 million more hectares of tree cover loss per year compared to 2001 and accounted for more than a quarter of all tree cover loss over the past 20 years.

In fact, 2021 was one of the worst years for forest fires since the turn of the century, causing an alarming 9.3 million hectares of tree cover loss globally.

Waste tonnage from PPE is a huge issue. What do we do now?

Pivot Magazine

When you imagine the plastic litter collected in a typical beach clean-up, the image of water bottles, grocery bags or takeout containers likely come to mind. But one of the top plastics found on beaches now is disposable masks. The PPE we’re all using to stay safe from COVID-19 has resulted in a disappointing, if predictable, wave of global garbage.

Just how much garbage? One hundred and twenty-nine billion masks were being thrown out every month in 2020, according to a paper co-authored by Tony Walker.

It appears few want to sacrifice their health for a lighter environmental footprint—a trade-off that became especially pronounced with the new variants, as many Canadians switched from cloth masks to disposable N95s.

Climate change increases cross-species viral transmission risk 

Nature

At least 10,000 virus species have the ability to infect humans but, at present, the vast majority are circulating silently in wild mammals. However, changes in climate and land use will lead to opportunities for viral sharing among previously geographically isolated species of wildlife.

In some cases, this will facilitate zoonotic spillover—a mechanistic link between global environmental change and disease emergence.

In this study researchers simulate potential hotspots of future viral sharing, using a phylogeographical model of the mammal–virus network, and projections of geographical range shifts for 3,139 mammal species under climate-change and land-use scenarios for the year 2070.

HEALTH

GPs to prescribe walking and cycling in bid to ease burden on NHS

The Guardian 

General practitioners (GPs) around England are to prescribe patients activities such as walking or cycling in a bid to ease the burden on the National Health Service (NHS) by improving mental and physical health.

The £12.7m trial, which was announced by the Department for Transport and will begin this year, is part of a wider movement of “social prescribing”, an approach already used in the NHS, in which patients are referred for non-medical activities.

In 2020 the government launched trials into the impact of getting involved in the natural environment on mental health and wellbeing, while social prescribing has also been embraced in many other countries, including Australia where GPs have begun prescribing 5km park runs to patients.

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

This country is paying car drivers nearly $4,000 to switch to an electric bike

Electrek

France will now pay car drivers €4,000 to swap their old polluting car for a cleaner, more efficient, and more city-appropriate electric bicycle. That marks a major increase in the incentive designed to improve French cities.

Pedal bicycles are also included in the generous incentive package, though e-bikes are contributing to one of the biggest jumps in cycling ever across Europe and much of the world.

As reported by The Times, the full €4,000 incentive is awarded to those in lower income brackets that live in low-emission urban zones. Wealthier two-wheel converts will receive a reduced incentive commensurate with their income level.

Vancity sees opportunity in EV project financing, as fleet transitions start to scale

Electric Autonomy

Vancity Community Investment Bank (VCIB), a subsidiary of Vancity Credit Union, the largest community credit union in Canada, is setting its sights on providing innovative financing to help fuel electric vehicle fleet adoption.

In an announcement last month, VCIB partnered with 7 Generation Capital to finance the purchase and lease of 10 EV trucks and the required fast chargers for fleet users — in this case, logistics provider GoBolt. 

VCIB has committed $3.2 million to the deal, its first in this space. Previous VCIB investments have gone into real estate, social and environmental issues, and clean energy.  

The role of codes and standards in electrifying the transportation sector

CSA Group

A significant portion of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is attributed to the transportation sector. As the impact of climate change becomes apparent, governments are racing to reduce their carbon footprint by enacting policies and regulations to decarbonize the transportation sector through electrification.

Proliferation of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) will require the convergence and collaboration of the transportation sector with electrical utilities and manufacturers, creating both challenges and opportunities.

There must be sufficient charging infrastructure available to increase consumer confidence and overcome the barriers to mass-market adoption.

California's 2035 gas car ban finalized - why it's huge, even if we want sooner

Electrek

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) voted unanimously today to implement perhaps its most significant regulation ever – the Advanced Clean Cars II regulation, which officially implements a planned ban on new gas car sales beginning in 2035 and could shake up the entire US auto market.

After two years and much work and public comment, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has now adopted the plan, which California calls the “first-in-the-world.”

While other governments around the world have set targets for EV adoption and targeted all-EV sales in the 2030-2040 range, none are nearly as comprehensive as California’s new rules. The regulations could serve as a model not just in the US, but for world governments to look at when considering similar measures.

FACILITIES

Canada Green Building Council's (CAGBC’s) Zero Carbon Building™ (ZCB) standards are a made-in-Canada framework that makes carbon the new measure of building innovation. Among the world’s first zero-carbon building standards, they recognize the importance of building emissions in reaching national climate commitments. The ZCB standards are an important tool supporting the green building sector’s efforts to decarbonize Canada’s buildings.

The ZCB standards define low-carbon design and operational performance for buildings. They offer both rigour and flexibility, opening the door for all buildings to minimize their climate impact. Buildings of all types, from office towers to arenas, warehouses, multi-unit residential buildings, and schools, have been certified under the standards.

Near real-time hourly weather data is now available directly within the latest version of RETScreen Software’s Performance Analysis module. As part of our ongoing collaboration with NASA, you can now download hourly weather data for the entire surface of the planet!

Click here to download RETScreen Expert

National Healthcare Facilities and Engineering Week (NHFEW)

Planetary Health Action Conference 2022

Join the Health and Environment Adaptive Response Task force (HEART) at the Planetary Health Action Conference to find out more about HEART's recent efforts and learn how you can get involved.

GOALS OF THE CONFERENCE:

1. Coordinate efforts to advance planetary health advocacy, education and action.
2. Draw attention to leaders in planetary health medical education and avenues to accelerate the implementation of planetary health topics in Canadian medical schools.
3. Highlight medical student-led health care sustainability initiatives to spark innovation, engagement and collective action to achieve net-zero in Canadian health care.
4. Improve the accessibility, transparency and accountability of CFMS HEART to support medical student-engaged planetary health action across Canada.

Date: September 17th, 2022

CANO/ACIO 34th Annual Conference 

The CANO/ACIO Conference is an opportunity for oncology nurses to connect with their peers and improve their professional knowledge in the areas of oncology nursing, patient engagement and interdisciplinary practice.

This year's conference will include a workshop day, keynote presentations, joint symposia, concurrent oral sessions, posters, networking opportunities and more! This year's conference objectives are to:

• Provide a forum for oncology nurses network and collaborate on current hot topics and future trends in oncology nursing practice
• Inspire nurses to celebrate the advances already achieved and to further advance oncology nursing through the dissemination of new and innovative practices and research findings
• Challenge nurses to examine their practice and drive innovations in care when they return to their settings with new ideas and enthusiasm for oncology patient care

Dates: October 27th-30th, 2022

The future for cooperative intelligent transport systems 

In this panel discussion, speakers will explore how municipalities, transport authorities, the automotive industry, infrastructure providers and government can work together to ensure the potential of C-ITS is realized, safely, securely and effectively.

Date: September 8th, 2022

Time:1:00pm EST

REGISTER HERE

CFMS HEART intersectional environmentalism speaker series: Event #1

Join CFMS HEART in conversation with four incredible speakers to discuss the intersectionality of Canada's evolving planetary health crises and how interdisciplinary and inclusive action can shape the road ahead.

Date: September 12th, 2022

Time: 7:00pm ET

Read about the speakers and register here

Health meets food: Culinary medicine in foodservice roundtable

Register for a free virtual roundtable covering the intersection of food and health through presentations and conversations with leaders across the culinary world, hospital foodservice, advocacy, government, social sciences and education.

Date: September 19th, 2022

Time: 11:00am ET

REGISTER HERE

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.

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.

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