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As many of our loyal readers know, Neil Ritchie, our esteemed colleague, mentor and friend has retired from his position as Executive Director of the Coalition effective February 1st. The Coalition team, members and partners have been pleased to welcome the new Executive Director, Dr. Myles Sergeant, this past week.
Please see below for a short message from Dr. Myles Sergeant.
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"The Coalition has been the leader in greening Canada's health care landscape for over 20 years. As a physician who is committed to climate change solutions, I am truly excited to be joining the Coalition team and be engaging in the next phase of the Coalition's growth."
Myles can be contacted at myles@greenhealthcare.ca
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Introducing our new Environmental Stewardship Guidebooks! | |
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The environmental stewardship guidebooks, created in partnership with PEACH Health Ontario, are for boards, executive leaders, and clinical staff looking to support their health care facilities in the move towards a climate-resilient, carbon net-zero and environmentally sustainable health system.
We hope these guidebooks, developed in part to help leaders with accreditation, will be a useful tool to help hospitals and long-term care facilities meet their sustainability goals.
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EcoHack a Business - Conference and leadership training for change makers
Businesses are in a unique position to make real strides in the fight for a more sustainable future and may face sector specific challenges. The EcoHack-a-Business initiative, inspired by the EcoHack-a-City initiative for municipalities, is designed to strengthen ties amongst stakeholders who can support their own organisation in its ecological transition!
This event combines:
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A virtual conference where experts will talk about environmental issues concerning businesses; and
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An online learning-by-doing training program that brings together business employees to find original solutions to an environmental challenge experienced by their business.
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Leading Sustainable Health Systems: New course with CMA Joule
CASCADES new course developed and delivered with the Canadian Medical Association will help you effectively lead change and move towards a climate resilient, low carbon sustainable health system.
Through case studies and group discussion, you will develop knowledge, skills and collaborations that will help you to advocate for and participate in a shift toward a more environmentally sustainable health system. Hear from experts in sustainable care, explore practical examples of clinical practices and learn how to integrate sustainability within a health team, department or organisation.
Join them for five virtual sessions from May 2–18 to build the network and skills you need to address climate change in health care.
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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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Planting more trees in cities could cut deaths from summer heat, study says
The Guardian
Planting more trees could mean fewer people die from increasingly high summer temperatures in cities, a study suggests.
Increasing the level of tree cover from the European average of 14.9% to 30% can lower the temperature in cities by 0.4C, which could reduce heat-related deaths by 39.5%, according to first-of-its-kind modelling of 93 European cities by an international team of researchers.
The research team wants to influence policymakers to make cities greener, “more sustainable, resilient and healthy” as well as mitigating climate breakdown
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Air pollution is changing how our brain functions, researchers at UBC, UVic find
CBC News
Researchers at the University of British Columbia and University of Victoria have found that exposure to traffic pollution is changing the way our brain works.
"Air pollution is affecting our thinking, which could have serious public health effects," said Chris Carlsten, director of UBC's Air Pollution Exposure Lab.
Carlsten says exposure to diesel exhaust for just two hours led to changes in brain function connectivity, a measure of how different regions of the brain interact with each other.
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When it comes to tackling climate change, Canada's biggest pension funds don't make the grade, reports find
Toronto Star
A new report found Canada’s biggest pension funds have largely failed to come up with consistent and clear plans to tackle climate change.
The report, by the eco-advocacy charity Shift: Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health, took aim at almost all of the funds for refusing to consider a quick transition away from investments tied to fossil fuels.
Shift combed through hundreds of public statements, annual reports and regulatory filings made by 11 of Canada’s largest pension fund managers to compile a report-card style ranking meant to set a benchmark for the quality and credibility of their climate policies.
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Broadening the perspective on reducing pharmaceutical residues in the environment
CBC News
This paper reviews options for reducing harm from pharmaceuticals that are known to cause adverse impacts by their presence in the environment. It reviews recent global and EU policy development, which could go further in recognising and addressing the issue in a global context. It considers green chemistry, which can help clean up production processes, but holds only long-term promise for creating ‘green’ alternatives.
Eco-directed sustainable prescribing practices are reviewed, which have been adopted successfully to reduce the use of harmful pharmaceuticals. Researchers note recent developments in medicines optimisation and precision medicine, which hold promise for improving patient outcomes, saving costs and reducing pharmaceutical use.
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British Columbia industrial commercial and institutional packaging and paper products baseline report: waste flows study
Canada Plastics Pact
The Canada Plastics Pact (CPP) is working to create a circular economy for plastic packaging. To support its work, CPP has established a Roadmap to 2025 that outlines key steps to reducing plastic waste in Canada.
CPP recognizes that a first step towards achieving better plastic packaging management in Canada is documenting our country’s current plastic packaging baseline and material flows, including its use in the context of other packaging materials.
The British Columbia (BC) Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy is also evaluating opportunities to better prevent and manage packaging waste.
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Reduce, Reuse, Rewear – Highlights of the textile secondary market in Canada
NACTR
Adhering to the core values of the National Association for Charitable Textile Recycling (NACTR), NACTR releases the study examining the prospects of greater landfill diversion and life extension of post-consumer textiles waste in Canada.
Sustainability in focus, Canada and the world is pushing towards the Circular Economy model. The study highlights the current state of play and the lost opportunities from an economic, environmental and societal impact perspective.
The Study is released in partnership with Environment and Climate Change Canada. NACTR is proud to have contributed their member data for this study, as it provides great insight into the Post-Consumer Textiles Value Chain and the key roles that the charitable organiations play.
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Trouble at the henhouse: Why the California egg shortage spells trouble for Canadian grocery prices
Toronto Star
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Canada has been largely insulated from The Great Egg Shortage of 2022-2023, which has gripped the U.K., U.S., and in particular California for weeks, resulting in bare shelves and astronomical prices. While Canadian egg prices have spiked too, consumers here probably won’t experience shortages because of how our egg supply is managed, experts say.
But the underlying drivers of this strange crisis are signs of trouble ahead at the grocery store. An unprecedented outbreak of avian influenza has killed more than seven million birds at egg farms, poultry farms and backyard flocks in Canada, and almost 58 million in the U.S., along with countless wild birds. Scientists fear that climate change is making devastating outbreaks like this one more likely, though they say more research is needed.
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Save Ontario’s food and farms from disappearing forever
Home Grown
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Home grown, local food matters. 62,301 people across Ontario think it matters too.
Ontario is losing 319 acres of farmland every day. Help protect local, fresh, home grown food made right here in Ontario before it’s too late.
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Goodyear develops 90 per cent "sustainable" tires with significant EV benefits
Electric Autonomy
Goodyear has developed new tires with up to 90 per cent sustainable materials and benefits especially relevant for electric vehicles.
The tires are sourced using a combination of natural and synthetic materials, including plant-based oils, bio-based materials and recycled materials that make them sustainable and less harmful to the environment.
Goodyear’s foray into manufacturing tires with sustainable ingredients is part of the company’s efforts to reduce its environmental footprint and promote sustainable practices in the tire industry.
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Benefits FortisAlberta launches rural electric vehicle smart charging pilot
Electric Autonomy
FortisAlberta is running an electric vehicle smart-charging pilot program in rural Alberta to understand what impact EV adoption will have on the province’s electrical grid.
The Calgary-headquartered utility is looking for 600 residential EV owners across its service areas in central and southern Alberta to participate in the pilot.
“The goal of this pilot is to identify how the grid, as currently designed and resourced, may or may not support the increased loads associated with residential EV charging,” says a spokesperson for FortisAlberta in an email statement to Electric Autonomy.
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EVENTS, TRAINING AND WEBINARS | |
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Online registration is open for the 2023 Webinar Series! Dates and topics are listed below.
Up next: February 15th, 2023 - The Art of Building Sustainability
True sustainability in the built environment leverages the delicate balance between people, the planet, and fiscal responsibility. The safe, healthy, productive, and energy-efficient operation of a facility requires a high level of integration between complex and costly mechanical and electrical systems which consume significant natural resources. Focusing on nine simple but crucial characteristics in the automation of these systems empower interoperation in an intuitive and sustainable way; which is the art of building sustainability.
Full webinar schedule
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March 22nd, 2023 - Decarbonization for health care buildings - The giant step forward
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April 19th, 2023 - Barriers and enablers for the new IPAC technologies - What is the evidence?
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May 17, 2023 - Leading EDI in organisations for non-EDI-experts
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June 21, 2023 - Practicalities of [HVAC] electrification in health care facilities
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October 18, 2023 - What's new within the 2022 Medical Gas Standard & the "Qualified Service Technician"
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November 22, 2023 - Design of resilient bulk oxygen supply systems for health care facilities
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Building community to advance planetary health
With the complex connection between environmental health and human health becoming increasingly apparent, the necessity for health care professionals to incorporate planetary health approaches in their practice is more important than ever. Taking Action on Planetary Health introduces learners to the emerging and transdisciplinary social movement of planetary health and offers the opportunity for learners to develop and implement solutions that will allow humanity and the natural systems we depend on to thrive now and in the future.
Over the course of seven interactive online sessions and independent group work, participants will explore key planetary health concepts and frameworks, collaborate with a diverse group of learners, and apply planetary health principles to a novel and practical planetary health intervention.
Dates: February 17th to June 23rd , 2023.
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International Congress for Academic Medicine
Registration is now open for the International Congress on Academic Medicine (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. | | | | |
