eBulletin12th July 2024
UKHACC welcomes the new government and appreciates the steps already taken towards making the UK a leader in clean, renewable energy. We will continue to call on the government to prioritise bold actions to protect our health and the environment’s health.
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News and updates
Jury refuses to convict six climate-protesting medics who damaged JP Morgan bank
In July 2022, 6 health professionals broke a glass window of a JP Morgan building in London to raise the alarm that the climate emergency is a health emergency. In their trial, the judge instructed the jury that a medical emergency was a defence only if the harm was immediate. The jury refused to convict them. An in-depth interview with Dr Juliette Brown, a psychiatrist, climate activist and one of the accused in the trial explains the health professionals’ rationale for their actions in detail.
Joint Letter to UN-FAO to retract report contains serious errors and downplaying climate benefits of lower-meat diets
Over 100 organisations and experts have called on the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to urgently retract a report on ‘Pathways towards lower emissions’ because it contains serious errors, which significantly understate the emissions-saving potential of shifts to lower-meat diets, and inappropriate sources of evidence. The letter, which can be read here, calls for greater transparency in methodology and better engagement on the nutritional adequacy of different healthy sustainable diets.
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Have your say
Sign-on: Call for the adoption of an additional Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights on the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment
In the face of ongoing environmental challenges, academics, researchers and practitioners working on the intersection of human rights and the environment across multiple disciplines have come together to call on the Member States of the Council of Europe to protect the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment through an additional protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights. You can sign the letter here.
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Opportunities/Get involved
Call for abstracts: GHASP Conference 2024
The Greener Healthcare and Sustainability Project is hosting a hybrid conference on 27th September 2024. It aims to bring together people working to reduce the environmental impact of healthcare. The call for abstracts is open until the 16th of August. Further information and submission instructions are available here.
Calling Applicants from Wales for the Bevan Exemplar ProgrammeThe Bevan Exemplar Programme supports health and care professionals to translate great ideas for health and care into practice. This 12-month programme provides training and mentorship to inform thinking and develop skills to transform health and care services from within, having positive impacts on patient care, lived experiences, health outcomes and service efficiency. This year’s Bevan Exemplar Programme is titled Achieving Change Together and challenges applicants to develop innovative solutions to overcome issues currently facing the delivery of health and care services in Wales. The application deadline is 14th July 2024. More information can be accessed here.
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Events
Now – 23 October | Online
WHO Climate Change and Health Technical Webinar Series 2024
The WHO is conducting a series of technical webinars on various climate change and health topics with the aim of building capacity for implementation at the country level. These webinars will integrate training, experience sharing, interactive activities and group discussion. Details on the webinar topics and registration can be found here.
10 August | Tayside
Greener Practice Tayside and Fife x Ride for their Lives
Join healthcare workers from Tayside and around the UK as we celebrate improving air quality and active travel infrastructure while highlighting the need for further action to reduce the environmental risks to our children’s health. More information is available here.
9 September & 9 November | London & Online
Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine Conference
Plant-Based Health Professionals UK is holding two one-day nutrition and lifestyle medicine conferences this year. Whether you’re a health professional, policy maker, or simply passionate about optimising your health through better eating patterns and habits, there’s something for everyone. Sessions cover hot topics such as gut health, physical activity, healthy ageing, mental health and behaviour change. More information is available here. Use the special UKHACC discount code to get 20% off, valid until 31st July 2024: UKHACC20
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New resources
Homes for Health: The Public Health Case to Warm Our Homes, Not Our Planet
This new policy brief by Medact makes a compelling case for healthy homes. Transforming our energy system and upgrading our homes will reduce carbon emissions, improve health by better insulating the homes of the most vulnerable from the cold and damp, and in doing all of this reduce health inequity and inequality within society.
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Articles, podcasts and videos
We’ve pulled together a list of recent articles, podcasts and videos worth reading, watching, listening and sharing.
- Read this blog by Peter Wilkinson, a cardiologist, on simple changes to make the air cleaner.
- Watch this short 10-minute film on the story of indoor occupational air pollution.
- Watch this short documentary called “Gen Z Mental Health: Climate Stories”.
- Watch this video highlighting the Great Big Green Week swaps.
- Read this BMJ article providing an ethical analysis of why the latest standards to GMC’s Good Medical Practice are not ethically justifiable in light of the climate crisis.
- Read this article explaining how everyone is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
- This news piece rationales why ditching green policies played a key role in the Tories’ election defeat
- Read this article by Richard Smith, Chair of the UKHACC, where he speaks on what should be our priorities when we finally “declare war” on climate and nature.
- This new analytical research outlines the barriers and facilitators to ensuring sustainable healthcare across NHS Scotland.
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Please share
Please forward this newsletter to anyone you think might be interested. Anyone can sign up to receive this newsletter by clicking this link: https://action.ukhealthalliance.org/page/69209/subscribe/1
If you’ve got information about resources, campaigns, or events you would like to be included in the next edition, please send them to anandita.pattnaik@ukhealthalliance.org. The next bulletin will be published on 16 August 2024