I’ve been in this space now for a decade, and for approximately the first eight years, the reception to this message was the same … I was still having to really explicitly make the connection between climate change and health …. Over the past two years and in particular throughout the pandemic, public awareness around climate change as a health issue has absolutely exploded.
Our wonderful Dr. Andrea MacNeill had an eye-opening discussion on the August 28, 2021 episode of CBC Radio’s North by Northwest podcast about the various facets of planetary health, including the individual and systems-wide effects of healthcare delivery on the health of patients and the environment. She particularly discussed her new Planetary Healthcare Lab, with its four current areas of research: the appropriate use of healthcare resources, the circular economy of reusable equipment, the impact of food and food waste, and virtual care.
You can listen to the full podcast here (time stamp 1:24:25 until 1:44:00)