US | Health Care Without Harm and ANHE launch Nurses Climate Challenge

US | Health Care Without Harm and ANHE launch Nurses Climate Challenge

Health Care Without Harm, in collaboration with the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments (ANHE), launched the Nurses Climate Challenge in conjunction with National Nurses Day and CleanMed.

Nursing is the largest of the health care professions with 4 million registered nurses in the United States with the majority practicing in hospitals, making nurses ideal spokespeople to educate their colleagues on climate and health.

The Nurses Climate Challenge is a nationwide campaign for nurses to educate 5,000 health professionals on the health impacts of climate …

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US | Health Care Without Harm Testifies in Support of Clean Power Plan

US | Health Care Without Harm Testifies in Support of Clean Power Plan

Health Care Without Harm stood alongside nearly 200 advocates for health and the environment in testifying before the EPA in support of the Clean Power Plan at a hearing in Kansas City, United States, this week. In her testimony Lindsey Corey, Health Care Without Harm communications manager, explained the adverse health effects of repealing the plan and allowing pollution from coal-fired power plants to continue unabated.

“The burning of coal releases a number of highly toxic air pollutants, which have been shown to cause respiratory illnesses, …

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US | The Importance of Physician Climate Advocacy in the Face of Political Denial

US | The Importance of Physician Climate Advocacy in the Face of Political Denial

Source: AMA Journal of Ethics. December 2017, Volume 19, Number 12: 1222-1237

Author: Andrew Jameton, PhD.

Abstract: Most physicians accept the general scientific discoveries about anthropogenic global warming and its dangers. Occasional denial by individual physicians of climate change can be readily answered by
reference to the scientific consensus. But widespread, organized, political denial of climate change is hazardous to physicians’ advocacy for an effective public health and health care response to climate change. This article assumes that physician climate advocacy is ethical and celebrates the many forms of health …

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US | Health leaders converge with urgency, unity, and even some optimism at Climate and Health Meeting

US | Health leaders converge with urgency, unity, and even some optimism at Climate and Health Meeting

Over 300 health professionals and health scientists around the US and the world united at a landmark Climate and Health Meeting on February 16 to discuss the urgent measures needed to prevent and ameliorate the adverse health impacts of a changing climate.

Originally organized by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention but abruptly cancelled due to concerns about the Trump administration’s stance on climate action, the meeting was reconvened by Former Vice President Al Gore, the American Public Health Association, and health academic institutions.

A …

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US | Harvard study finds $33b annual net benefit from a power plant carbon standard

US | Harvard study finds $33b annual net benefit from a power plant carbon standard

CC BY-NC 2.0 Robert S. Donovan via Flickr

Nearly all U.S. regions stand to gain health and economic benefits from power plant carbon standards similar to the Clean Power Plan (CPP), the centerpiece of the Obama administration’s climate change plan, according to a new study by scientists from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Syracuse University, Resources for the Future, and the Harvard Forest, Harvard University as a project of the Science Policy Exchange.

In the study published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE, the …

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Global | Health professionals call on G7 nations to phase out coal

Global | Health professionals call on G7 nations to phase out coal

82 organizations from 30 countries representing more than 300,000 doctors, nurses, and public health professionals and advocates are calling on G7 nations to accelerate the transition away from coal to save lives.

Healthy Energy Initiative partners Health Care Without Harm, the Health and Environment Alliance, and the Climate and Health Alliance, along with the Initiative’s health sector partners in several countries, are among the signatories of the Global Health Statement on Coal Plants.

Dignity Health, ThedaCare, Hackensack University Medical Center, and Seattle Children’s Hospital – members of …

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Global | Health sector appeal to G7 on coal – sign on now!

Global | Health sector appeal to G7 on coal – sign on now!

UPDATE: The Global Health Statement on Coal Plants was launched on May 18th with the signatures of 82 organizations from 30 countries representing more than 300,000 doctors, nurses, and public health professionals and advocates. Read more.

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In anticipation of the upcoming G7 Summit* in Japan on May 26-27, health professionals and health organizations around the world are invited to sign a statement calling on the G7 nations to accelerate the global transition away from coal-fired electricity in order to protect public health from …

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US & Philippines | Renewable energy is good for health too, says Harvard expert

US & Philippines | Renewable energy is good for health too, says Harvard expert

This post was originally published by HCWH-Asia.

On March 10, 2016, Health Care Without Harm-Asia helped organize two public events which were graced by Dr. Jonathan Buonocore, program leader for climate, energy, and health of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Dr. Jonathan Buonocore speaks about his research during the press conference.

In the morning, Dr. Buonocore, who also served as resource speaker in a three-day workshop on Health Impact Assessments also organized by HCWH-Asia last March 7 to 9, gave a lecture …

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US | Dignity Health CEO: More Needs To Be Done To Prioritize Climate Change

US | Dignity Health CEO: More Needs To Be Done To Prioritize Climate Change

25 February 2016 — Lloyd Dean, president and CEO of Dignity Health, one of the United States’ largest health systems, wrote in Health Affairs Blog about the health care industry’s “moral responsibility to address climate change head-on.” Below we highlight some particularly powerful excerpts on the role of the health care industry in leading the way to a healthy climate.

On hospitals reducing their carbon emissions and increasing use of renewable energy:

Although progress has been slow, more and more hospitals are recognizing the importance of going green and hospitals are instituting …

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US | Dignity Health to Limit Investments in Thermal Coal Energy

US | Dignity Health to Limit Investments in Thermal Coal Energy

SAN FRANCISCO–Dignity Health, one of the nation’s largest health systems, today announced it will restrict investments in thermal coal companies, and expand investments in sustainability-focused asset managers and investment opportunities addressing climate change. The non-profit health system has recently strengthened its advocacy efforts by urging portfolio managers to include environmental sustainability into their investment decisions. This new screen against thermal coal has led Dignity Health to divest its holdings in a number of companies, and to restrict further investment in the industry. Read more via Business Wire

See …

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