Environment

Climate change fuelling the spread of tuberculosis

With floods in Pakistan, cyclones in Madagascar and droughts in Somalia, it is crucial that we learn to recognize the critical links between climate change and disease.

A call to action for the health sector on planetary health and a wellbeing society

An emerging national health sector coalition is working to spur action, at all levels from the grass roots to the national level, to create a Wellbeing society in which we achieve equitable health now and for future generations while living within planetary boundaries.

Planetary health is public health

Ignoring planetary health would be a gross dereliction of duty by the public health profession, a breach of the ethical obligation to protect and improve the health of the population and to narrow health inequalities.

First, do no harm: An oath for regulators confronting the harms of pesticides

When we aim to kill as pesticides currently do, harm is done to all who live on this planet. Imagine the future if regulators aligned with physicians in taking the oath to first, do no harm.

Kenya highlights dangers of plastic pollution as Canada awaits court ruling

As the Canadian government awaits a court ruling on its ban on single-use plastics, Kenya offers a real-life illustration of the severe yet overlooked impact of plastic pollution far from global headlines.

Harms from fossil fuel expansion are absent from this election campaign. Why we need to worry

Calls for rapid scaling of fossil fuel projects not only ignore the impacts of these industries on atmospheric warming but fail to consider their direct effects on human health.

Integrating environmental justice into environmental health research. How are we doing?

The journey of embedding of environmental justice principles in health research has only just begun. But it is more important now than ever for researchers to undertake this work.

Health professionals issue urgent call for climate action and for their pension plan to step up

The RNAO is calling on the $112 billion Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan to stop investing nurses’ retirement savings in companies that are making the climate crisis worse.

Links between the chemical industry and governments pose a threat to Canadian health

Health Canada and its Pesticide Management Regulatory Agency see industry and its trade secrets as more worthy of protection than the health of Canadians and their environment.

Fossil fuels make us sick: Let’s ban ads that greenwash the issue

The passage of Bill C-372 is not merely a matter of legislative reform; it is a moral imperative in the face of escalating climate catastrophe. We must dismantle fossil fuel green washing and disinformation.

Research on the health harms of fracking questions expansion of this industry

With two more natural gas facilities scheduled to come on line in the next two years in B.C., it's time we consider the harms that fracking poses to public health.

Climate justice for medical learners: Breaking down silos in Planetary Health

Canadian medical schools have made significant strides in recent years toward incorporating principles of Planetary Health into their curricula. However, more work must be done to enrich future physicians’ understanding of climate justice as a medical, social and moral imperative.

‘It’s time to do something’: Climate change endangering remote First Nations communities

The Anisininew leaders have urged governments to support the region by injecting financial and emergency resources, and directly empowering them to rebuild and maintain vital winter road infrastructure.

Public health and urban planning go hand in hand. Why aren’t we doing more to promote cycling?

As a society, we need to examine our own blind spots and biases when it comes to all road users to create human-scale urban environments that nudge us toward healthier, safer, equitable and financially savvy transport.

Beyond adaptation and resilience: A call for health-care transformation

A key challenge we face is to envision a health-care system that is compatible with a future society that is in turn compatible with the Earth’s limited biocapacity and resources. That would be a resilient health-care system.

Strengthening Canada’s focus on mitigation: Reflections on the COP28 and climate and health

The health sector is an economic giant. Thus, it must play a significant role in strengthening Canada’s focus on climate change mitigation, including reducing its own contributions to climate change.

Health sector leadership on climate and health: Reflections on COP28 and climate and health

The Declaration on Climate and Health issued at the 28th UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) in December failed an important test. But while political leadership is lacking, health sector leadership is building.

Reflections on the COP28 UAE Declaration on Climate and Health. Where it fails

For the first time in 30 years, the UN's annual COP28 Climate Conference had a day devoted to health. But world ministers, including Canada's, could not bring themselves to take a bold stance.

Toddlers put everything in their mouths: Babies and the risks of microplastics

As the federal government plans its counterattack against opponents of its single-use plastic ban, the battle to reverse the health and environmental hazard posed by microplastics continues globally, and here in Canada.

Do doctors know enough about the commercial determinants of health?

Private sector activities have a real impact on people's health. We need to promote healthy cross-industry regulation and scrutinize the role that private interests play in the health-policy arena to help safeguard the health of patients.