Today I had the good fortune to speak with medical students about the Greening of Health Care. They are inspired to learn more about environmental health by a wonderful activist Dr. John Howard. Dr. Howard is the Chair of C.A.P.E - Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. He was instrumental in getting a Pesticide ban in London and then in Ontario. C.A.P.E is now pursuing a ban throughout Canada.
The enthusiastic medical students understand that there will be a lot of work to do if they are to change a system that currently relies so heavily on disposables. They also know that as doctors they are to "do no harm" and that includes doing no harm to the environment that sustains us. It provides hope to a troubled world to know that these young professionals are willing to dedicate time to a subject that has been neglected by the health care industry for so long.
According to the students Canadian hospitals consume 2.5x more energy than European hospitals. It is time to rethink the health care system and morph it into a disease prevention system. If 10% of the 1.9 million health care employees in Canada or 190,000 people were to take up the challenge, waste and toxics would be drastically reduced in very short order. This will be good for the people and good for the planet. These students aren't waiting until they graduate they are taking action now.
One simple thing you can do to show your support for their actions and the health of the planet, is to buy local, organic, seasonal product free from packaging thereby eliminating emissions and pesticides while supporting the local economy. And don't forget to serve it on reusable dishes.
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Yeah, it is really a waste and i hope this can be prevented because there are many people out there who need it.
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