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Where is the Money? Investment and divestment considerations for health care workers, associations, and foundations | |
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Join CASCADES and the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care for a panel discussion of perspectives on finance, climate, and the health sector.
As we approach COP28, many of us will be hearing more and more analysis of the role money and investment plays in shaping climate policy. Pension plans, hospital foundations, and professional associations are just some of the ways that people and organisations in the health sector face decisions around financial investments. Hear from speakers about how these investment decisions can account for climate risk and promote climate action.
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Environmental Stewardship and Psychiatry | |
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Check out the latest Guidebook for Environmental Stewardship, developed by McMaster’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, alongside PEACH and the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care.
Here you will find relevant information regarding the many impacts of global climate change that affect both the health care system as well our mental health. You will also discover actions that we can take to cope, raise awareness, and embark on the road to environmental stewardship! There are also many fantastic resources throughout the Guidebook!
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Impact Investing
Internationally, health care is lagging behind other institutions when it comes to divesting their millions of dollars from fossil fuels.
'Impact investing' directs capital to businesses or projects that create environmental or social benefits.
Do you know if your hospital has started this shift?
Let us know!
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Sustainable Prescribing
This past year, the Coalition's Sustainable Prescribing working group produced a toolkit for outpatient settings.
This year, we will be working with experts across Canada, on a toolkit for sustainable inpatient prescribing.
More news to come soon!
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CleanMed 2024 - Call for Presentations
The deadline has been extended for your chance to present at CleanMed 2024!
The selection committee is looking for dynamic presentations that:
- spark imagination, ideas, and action at the nexus of health and the environment
- excite health care professionals about proven practices and innovative solutions
- push the leading edge of environmental sustainability
- demonstrate the power of collaboration
- incorporate, embrace, and celebrate diverse voices, perspectives, and lived experiences
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CAPE Careers
The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) is looking for two individuals to fill open positions:
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An Interim Executive Director to lead and coordinate the CAPE ecosystem while their Executive Director is on parental leave.
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And, a Health Impacts of Fossil Fuel Extraction Campaign Manager who will work alongside the Toxics Program Director to implement the “Place-based Power Project”, focused on the health and social justice impacts of fossil fuel extraction within the wider context of the climate crisis.
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Seven in 10 Canadians worry about climate change and make the link to extreme weather
Canada's National Observer
A large majority of Canadians are worried about climate change and believe it is the reason for an increase in extreme weather, a new national poll suggests.
But the Leger poll says only a small fraction of people listed climate change as the top issue facing Canada today, and many say they're only likely to change their behaviour if that doesn't come with a cost.
The polling firm asked more than 1,500 people about their views on climate change in an online survey conducted between September 8th and 10th, 2023.
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Multiple polls show majority of Albertans want a national cap on oil and gas emissions
CA
The majority of Albertans want a nation-wide cap on oil and gas emissions, with support strongest among Alberta’s youth aged 18 to 34. This is according to two new polls commissioned by the Canadian Associations of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) and released today.
“Albertans have suffered, like so many Canadians this summer, from the health impacts of wildfires and they are personally feeling the effects of climate change,” said Dr. Joe Vipond, a Calgary-based emergency doctor and past-president of CAPE. “The numbers speak for themselves. Albertans want more, not less, climate action and want oil companies regulated at the national level.”
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Sustainable, climate-smart health care guidance
Health care Without Harm
Developed as part of Health Care Without Harm's Health Care Climate Learning Initiative, this guidance spotlights proven practices to help health care facilities achieve net zero while centreing health equity, resilience, and adaptive capacity.
These recommendations were compiled from discussions with health care leaders during a series of workshops around the world.
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Gloucestershire Hospitals Green Team Competition expected to save £85,081 and 113,891 kgCO2e annually
Centre for Sustainable Healthcare
The Green Team Competition, which was recently held in partnership with the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (GHFT) and the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare (CSH), has produced remarkable results this year. The competition has generated estimated yearly savings for the Trust of £85,081 and 113,891 kgCO2e, or the carbon footprint equivalent of 328,027 miles driven in an average car.
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Canada's new farm team
The Globe and Mail
Making a living from the land has never been easy, but a new generation of farmers in Canada must contend with challenges their predecessors didn’t face, from rising costs and the dwindling availability of farmland to climate change, which can have a devastating impact on soil quality and overall food production.
Agricultural activities make up 12 per cent of Canada’s total greenhouse-gas emissions. This means the challenge to young and emerging farm operators is twofold: They must think about reducing their own GHG emissions while adapting their farming methods to withstand extreme temperature fluctuations. All while making enough money to pay their staff and feed their families.
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How UW Health is reimagining hospital food with a focus on diversity and sustainability
Food Service Director
The culinary team at University of Wisconsin Health (UW Health) wants to change the stigma around hospital food and take a holistic approach to foodservice.
When it comes to sustainability, UW Health considers more than just the environment. Lawson said the team also looks at community health and efforts to support local partnerships.
The health system signed onto the World Resources Institute’s Cool Food Pledge in 2019, setting a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2030.
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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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The case for electric school buses
Transfinder
What first comes to mind when you think about school bus transportation? Perhaps it’s the orange or yellow color, the sound of one passing by your home, or the dot moving on the map on your phone as you watch your child’s commute to school. What may not yet come to mind, however, is a quiet, emissions-free electric school bus.
Since school buses transport millions of students to and from school every day throughout the school year, they may be the most critical vehicles on the road. What if there was a way to make their commute safer, healthier, and more efficient? There may be, and per the benefits, we explore below, the answer may point to electric school buses.
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Canada improving on
EV-readiness: report
Electric Autonomy
Canada ranks overall ninth out of 20 countries in the latest EV Country Readiness Index report, according to an annual analysis conducted by global accounting firm EY.
The index evaluates nations based on three pillars around the transition to electric vehicles: supply, demand and regulations.
The ninth-place ranking is an improvement from last year when Canada held the 13th position out of 14 countries. This year, EY added six new countries to the ranking, including India, Austria, Australia, Mexico, Singapore, New Zealand and Brazil.
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Kia to build its future EVs with recycled ocean plastic | |
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Kia Corp. will recycle plastic from a record-breaking 55-tonne haul collected from the Pacific Ocean in the production of its upcoming electric vehicles.
The South Korean auto manufacturer made the announcement this week. The move is part of the automaker’s sustainability strategy.
The 55 tonnes of ocean plastic comes from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP). The Ocean Cleanup collects waste using its proprietary System 002 extraction technology — a containment boom system that is dragged across the water.
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How to choose healthy, sustainable finishes for health care facilities
Healthcare Facilities Today
When designing health care projects, it can be especially challenging to find finishes suitable for a clinical environment that are also healthy and sustainable.
Specifying the most appropriate materials involves a strategic balance of multiple and often competing factors regardless of the project type, but health care projects in particular have heightened requirements for finishes.
As knowledge of material health grows, material selection gets even more complicated. Some widely used products chosen for meeting these challenges of aesthetics and durability are simultaneously threatening to human and environmental health, and this side of the equation can be underpublicized.
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Growing greener: Enhancing the sustainability of Nova Scotia Health facilities
Nova Scotia Health
Nova Scotia Health is comprised of 41 hospitals and 140 health care facilities, totaling 8 million square feet of physical space. That’s 8 million square feet where lifesaving care, groundbreaking research and critical learning take place every day, but it’s also space that is hard on the environment.
The effects of climate change are becoming more obvious in the Maritimes. This is evidenced by coastline damage caused from rising sea water levels and increasing storm surge, and forest destruction due to sustained gale force winds. Nova Scotia Health is working to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions to mitigate the effects of climate change.
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EVENTS, TRAINING AND WEBINARS | |
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Explore climate advocacy with Green Party Leader Elizabeth May
Join OMA Green is Health, PEACH Health Ontario and CAPE on September 26th at 7:30pm ET, as they welcome climate activist, environmentalist, author, lawyer and politician Elizabeth May for a virtual fireside chat and Q&A session about her climate advocacy work.
Register HERE
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Infection Control and Sustainability: A myth busting conversation
Join the GreenCare Network on September 28th at 12pm PT to learn how infection prevention and control and environmental sustainability can support each other’s priorities and collaborate to reduce the environmental impact of health care.
Register HERE
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GHC New Hospitals: Learning from the Best
Join Greening Health Care for a 1-hour webinar on October 12th to learn how to make your new hospital the best it can be. Over the past decade, Ontario has delivered a few of the most energy efficient hospitals in the world.
Date: October 12th
Time: 12:30pm-1:30pm ET
Register HERE
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Building Momentum Toward Net Zero
Mark your calendars! On November 9, 2023, join the Canadian Climate Institute and the Net-Zero Advisory Body for the third annual virtual pan-Canadian climate conference: Building Momentum Toward Net Zero.
Last year’s conference was a huge success with more than 1,500 participants. More details on the agenda and the list of speakers will be revealed soon.
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Climate Emergency: Building a Healthy Planetary Future
The climate crisis is at our doorstep. Health professionals have the opportunity to help build a healthy planetary future together.
On October 28th, 2023 hear from experts in their fields who have initiated projects at a local level. Be inspired at this annual conference presented by the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, with lots of opportunities for participants to engage with the speakers and with each other. Everyone is welcome to attend.
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Save on Energy: Ontario Municipalities Series | |
Next up: Energy Management Practices and Save on Energy Resources
A free training event for energy managers and directors as well as facility managers and directors at small and medium municipalities in Ontario, to introduce the principles of energy management and highlight resources and programs.
Date: September 28th, 2023
Time: 3pm ET
Register HERE.
Other webinars in the series:
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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. | | | | |
