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According to a new study conducted by Healthcare Without Harm, if the global health care sector were a country, it would be the fifth-largest greenhouse gas emitter on the planet. Not only are doctors, nurses and health facilities all first responders to the impacts of climate change, but hospitals and health care systems paradoxically make a major contribution to the climate crisis.
When we asked Josh Karliner,one of the report’s authors, what he found most surprising about the findings he responded by outlining the immense potential that the healthcare sector has to limit global emissions:
“For health care to reach net zero emissions by 2050 or before, we will need to decarbonize the global supply chain, which constitutes 71% of the sector’s climate footprint. This means that pharmaceuticals, medical devices and equipment will need to be produced with 100% renewable energy, that transportation of these goods will need to be based on fossil fuel-free technology, and more. Many hospitals and health systems around the world are beginning to develop procurement strategies that can help accelerate this transition by focusing on carbon reduction.”
by Natasha Lasky, ODP Staff Writer The Weather Channel broadcast that this summer, the U.S will be a “tick time-bomb,” in that ticks will afflict much broader swathes of the country than in years previous. Even in dry states like California, which is in a historic drought, researchers have been seeing more ticks than ever, […]
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Greenways are bike paths that often serve as multi-use, car-free ways to navigate a city. Right now, the U.S. network “comprises a similarly haphazard collection of park-like bicycle- and pedestrian-oriented paths,” as CityLab reports, but that could change if environmental and transportation advocates can land $10 billion for a Greenway Stimulus in the infrastructure deal being negotiated in Congress right now.
Why This Matters: Getting people out of cars and into other modes of getting around is one of the best ways to ramp down carbon emissions in the transportation sector as well as ramp up health and fitness.
Continue Reading 498 wordsPreventing and preparing for pandemics is now a crucial task for world leaders. A crucial part of preventing pandemics is the protection of nature and the conservation of biodiversity. This week we had a chance to ask Conservation International’s new pandemic prevention fellow, Dr. Neil Vora, about why safeguarding our natural world is so important […]
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