UKHACC Bulletin January 2023

A very happy and sustainable new year to our readers! The UKHACC has had a year filled with progress and impact, the details of which can be found in our End of Year report. And now we are looking forward to a climate-action-packed 2023.

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News and updates

Extinction Rebellion (XR) has shifted away from public disruption as their primary tactic

XR has published a blog stating that they would be focusing on ‘’attendance over arrest and relationships over roadblocks’’ such that this unity is impossible to ignore. They are organising a non-violent direct action called ‘The Big One’  from 21st April 2023 for 100 days, where 100,000 people would gather outside the Houses of Parliament to demand a fossil fuel-free era. 

UK government to face legal challenge over Cumbria coal mine

Friends of Earth, the environmental campaign group is going to file its claim against the fossil fuel extraction project later this month. A solicitor representing the group has said that “A critical issue raised by Friends of the Earth during the inquiry was the signal that granting a new coal mine in the middle of a climate emergency would send to the rest of the world’’. Another organisation, South Lakes Action on Climate Change is also planning to file legal action against the government after permission for opening the first coal mine in the last 3 decades was granted in December 2022. 

London was the world’s most congested city in 2022

For the second year in a row, London has been declared the most congested city in the world. The INRIX 2022 Global Traffic Scorecard 2022 reported that commuters in London lost 156 hours in the years due to traffic congestion. There are adverse social, economic and environmental impacts of traffic congestion.

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Opportunities/Getting involved

Funding Alert – NIHR i4i FAST Programme

The funding at the speed of translation (FAST) programme is for innovators who need a small amount of funds to answer a specific question or to fund a single piece of activity. Applicants are welcome to apply to the programme to develop or advance their net-zero strategy, for example, to assess the carbon emissions associated with their innovation, and to develop their carbon reduction plans. or even work with third parties to gain the right expertise towards net zero healthcare. The application deadline is 15th February 2023 or earlier (if funding has been allocated).  

United for Nature – Sign the petition

The Zero Hour Alliance has launched the United for Nature petition to urge the UK government to set legally binding targets to reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. The UKHACC supports this as nature plays a positive impact on both physical and mental health. 

Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill – Sign the petition 

This bill aims to establish the right to breathe clean air as a basic human right in the UK. It is also known as Ella’s Law named after Ella Kissi Debrah who died 10 years ago aged nine in London and the cause of death was reported as air pollution by the coroner. Read more on the bill and sign the petiiton to show your support. 

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Courses and Events

COURSES

University of Hull, York – MSc Health and Climate Change

A new, first-of-its-kind course, an MSc in Health and Climate Change to train current and future leaders in climate health. It will focus on the health impacts of climate change and how to mitigate and adapt to climate change from a public health perspective. More information on the course is available here.   

Centre for Sustainable Healthcare Courses

The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare offers a number of opportunities for learning through short courses, foundation-level courses, and technical courses including carbon footprinting for healthcare, sustainability in quality improvement and teaching sustainable quality improvement. Please check out the website to see what’s available.

EVENTS: UKHACC IN CONVERSATION LUNCHTIME SESSIONS

A number of sessions are open for registration in our popular lunchtime sessions. These events are held online from 12.00-13.30 on the dates indicated below. Sessions involve presentations by leading experts followed by a panel discussion and Q&A.

18 January 2023

Progress towards a net zero health service in the UK

Health leaders from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales will provide an update on current plans and progress towards delivering a net zero health service. The panel includes Sir Frank Atherton, CMO Wales; Professor Sir Gregor Smith, CMO Scotland, Nick Watts, Greener NHS England. Reserve a spot here. 

15 February 2023

Education for sustainable healthcare

The Medical Schools Council has published a curriculum for the UK on Education for Sustainable Healthcare. In this lunchtime session, we will discuss the challenges and opportunities for ensuring the new curriculum becomes a standard component of medical education, and how it can be adapted and expanded to other areas of practice and postgraduate training. Register here.

EXTERNAL EVENTS 

13th & 20th January 2023 | 10:00 – 16:00 

Workshop: Impacts of weather and climate extremes on the UK food chain

There are 2 separate events – Part 1 (13th January 2023 on scoping adaptation and policy responses and their consequences. Part 2 (20th January 2023 on identifying critical uncertainties, scenarios and quick wins. The Met Office is organising this workshop with support from DEFRA, the food standards agency, UCL and others. Further information and registration details are available here. 

16th January 2023 | 14.00 – 15.00

How healthcare professionals can be advocates for greener healthcare

This webinar by Healthcare Without Harm Europe focuses on communication and advocacy for the sustainable use of antibiotics in food production and its contribution to the acceleration and spread of AMR. It will be useful to anyone wanting to develop their communication and campaigning skills. Register here. 

18th January 2023 |

HealthcareLCA Launch: The new home of healthcare environmental impact assessments

The developers of HealthcareLCA will introduce this new tool that would allow users to sort, search and filter data according to their needs/interests to transition towards sustainable health systems. More information and a registration link can be found here. 

19th January 2023 | In person – Madrid, Spain 

Training day on circular economy in the health sector

Health Care Without Harm Europe is organizing a free in-person training session on the application of the circular economy model in the health sector (Circular Healthcare) for members of the Global Green and Healthy Hospitals network in Europe. More details can be found here.

24th January 2023 | 10.00 – 12.00

Green Skills Training – Planning for your Future Programmes Webinar 

Training on sustainability and other green skills for organisations to become environment-friendly is being organised by Veri Connect. The session will be chaired by Dr Amanda Greer and consists of a panel of experts who will share their knowledge on upcoming best practices and trends. Click to register.

26th January 2023 | 14:00 

Clean Air Fund – Cleaning Our Children’s Air: What Should Health Campaigners Do?

This webinar brings together leading health campaigners to explore success stories of how they have worked with and for local communities to reduce the burden of air pollution on children. Further details are available here. 

2nd February 2023 | 12.00 – 13.00

Nature & the NHS – How Biodiversity Benefits Mental Health & the Planet

A wide range of benefits of ecotherapy and biodiversity for patients and the planet will be discussed. The panel consists of Dr Caroline Jessel, Chair of the South East Nature Partnership, founder of Dandelion Time, GP and former NHS England Lead for the South Regional Sustainability and Health Network & Dr Jacob Kraznowski, specialist registrar in general adult psychiatry at NHS South London. Register here. 

6th March 2023 | 13.00 – 17.00

Climate Change and Child Health: From Words to Actions

The RCPCH Climate Change Working Group is organising a webinar focusing on climate change and child health,  in particular on what paediatricians can do to take action. More information is available here.

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New resources

Lungs Matter 

Respiratory Futures have launched a new news-style programme called Lungs Matter to continue the conversations started during the COVID-19 pandemic on respiratory illnesses, raising awareness, highlighting the stories of individuals living with poor respiratory health and perspectives of healthcare professionals and organisations to tackle the challenges of air pollution and health inequalities. 

HealthcareLCA Database

It is an open-access living database of healthcare environmental impact assessments. It is a joint collaboration among Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Dalhousie University and CASCADES (Creating a Sustainable Canadian Health System in a Climate Crisis). This repository is designed to assist clinicians (who want to understand carbon footprint and other environmental impacts of relevant products and procedures), academics (who want to keep up to date with research and to identify evidence gaps in this field), and policymakers (who want to identify carbon hotspot areas to target for action or further research and innovation). 

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Reports, articles and videos

We’ve pulled together a list of recent reports, articles and videos that are worth reading, watching and sharing.

• This article on reforming higher education to sustain planetary health makes a case for why distributed university is the way forward. It is part of a series of papers published in the Lancet Planetary Health.
• The  COP27 was a milestone in climate justice in establishing the loss and damage funds. This article discusses what needs to be done for the funds to be successful. 
• A news article in BBC reported that 2022 was the warmest year ever recorded, with an average temperature of over 10℃. 
• After the COP15 agreement to conserve 30% of the planet Earth and restore degraded habitations, this article discusses 5 options for restoring global biodiversity. 
• New York becomes the 6th American state to legalise human composting. Can human composting help reduce the carbon footprint of the dead? Find out more in this news report. 

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Please share

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If you’ve got information about resources, campaigns, or events you would like to be included in the next edition, please send them to elaine.mulcahy@ukhealthalliance.org . The next bulletin will be published on 17 February 2023.