I was stunned this week when reading an article on gun deaths in the U.S. I could only think: What does it say about a nation that tolerates, almost encourages, more than daily mass shootings, mass murders about every ten days and the proliferation of assault weapons among its citizenry? What does it say that one of its two major political parties tolerated and continues to tolerate an outright assault on its 250 year old system of democracy that arose in the enlightenment and still garners praise for its constitution? And what does it say about a country where so many continue to tolerate and encourage a former president garnering aplomb from lies? I really don’t know what to say as I have many amazing American friends, have always enjoyed visiting the country, have family there, and admire its creativity and productivity. What I feel strongly is that we are all in deep trouble, as our Canadian neighbour to the south and a giant country keeps sinking deeper and its global leadership, though historically fraught with aberrations, is not just compromised but declining rapidly. Where are we now to look for global leadership, and how to stop the spread of its rot, Russia's aggression and other highly dividing events, let alone the continuing pandemic? Our climate crisis can’t wait. Nor can the oceans, rapidly rising, warming and filling up with 12 million tons of plastic yearly. Nor can the Amazon rain forest, where Brazil is allowing it to be mowed down at the rate of 22 square kilometres per day. Am I still safe in my forest refuge? Not likely!!
Then I get encouraging ‘letters’ from friends going on a marathon bicycle ride in Iowa, celebrating a 69th birthday in Saskatchewan thinking they’re younger than me, getting their knee replaced in India, recovering from Covid in London, planning to reorient their work from medicine and epidemiology to sustainable living, and others all trying to do their part, staying awake and forging on day after day. We must keep aware, keep going. Then, I just heard that Trump is now telling his crowd that climate change is nothing to worry about, that he is still the winner of an election he lost 20 months ago, and I got discouraged and upset. But alas, and despite the return of Covid to my family, I’m still here, fighting the internal demons to give up and just mind my own business, fighting what I still believe is the good fight, doing what I was taught by loving parents and great teachers over the years. Trying to understand why it’s not me fleeing Russian aggression, baking in China, dying of starvation in East Africa or swimming for my life in south Asia, I can only give thanks and take a few hours respite to enjoy a local country market (see Endshots).
Whether it be the good or the bad news in today’s Planetary Health Weekly (#28 of 2022) you’ll hopefully find some summer-time inspiration in these stories:
CLIMATE CRISIS & BIODIVERSITY CRISIS:
Extreme weather clearly linked to human-induced climate change says new study,
Will China’s new renewable energy plan lead to an early emissions peak?
EU sounds alarm about dire climate season ahead with droughts and fires,
900 firefighters battle massive fire in southeast France,
U.S. coal utility knew about ‘massive’ climate-fueled extinction yet still funded climate denial ads,
Turkey opens laboratory to grow algae for jet fuel in EU-backed clean aviation push,
‘Alarming’ rise in child marriage across drought-hit Horn of Africa,
Measuring climate change: it’s not just heat it’s humidity,
CORONAVIRUS UPDATES:
‘Stealthy’ new Covid variant can reinfect you every month,
Analysis of Covid-19-related croup and SARS-CoV-2 variant predominance in the U.S.,
North Korea says it has ‘beaten’ Covid – but there’s more to its outbreak than meets the eye,
Covid-19: older people’s stories,
An inclusive response to Covid-19 (focusing on the aged), THEN
Milner on Biodiversity: Blog #4 "Creating New Ocean Habitats"
How to protect and why to prioritize coastal waters,
The huge impact of private jets,
The political and social contexts of global road safety: challenges for the next decade,
Is traditional toilet paper really that bad for the environment?
California governor signs nation’s most sweeping law to phase out single-use plastics and packaging waste,
UK’s largest carbon capture project will turn 40,000 tons of CO2 into baking soda,
Air pollution kills 10 million people a year – why do we accept that as normal?
Welcome to our second MOOC on preparing policy briefs,
Indigenous Services Canada Covid-19 monthly update & Indigenous perspectives on planetary healing (August 3 webinar from York University),
Quote on no new fossil fuel expansion,
Newly added event: World Ocean Tech and Innovation Summit, October 4-5, Halifax,
How minds change on-screen and at home,
Plant-based meat by far the best climate investment says report,
Children with vegetarian diet growth and nutrition similar to those who eat meat: Toronto study,
Firearms are the leading cause of death for children in the U.S. but rank no higher than fifth in other industrialized nations,
New book: Flourish: Design Paradigms for Our Planetary Emergency by Michael Pawlyn and Sarah Ichioka,
Six things we’ve learned about how the pandemic disrupted learning, and lastly
ENDSHOTS of a local weekly small town Friday market in Rosseau, Ontario.
Scientists have finally confirmed the link between human-induced climate change and some extreme weather events, in a new review paper. The research shows that human activities have a direct effect on certain types of severe weather including heatwaves and heavy rainfall. The heatwave currently affecting Europe, for example, is likely between one to three degrees hotter because of climate change. Read more at EuroNews
China released its 14th five-year plan (FYP) for renewable energy on 1 June, outlining the country’s renewable energy roadmap for the five years 2021-2025.
This is the first sub-sector plan issued since the 14FYP for a modern energy system, published earlier this year. Among all the documents that China has issued under the so-called “1+N” policy framework for enforcing its climate pledges, the energy plan and its sub-sector plan on renewable energy might be the most fundamental to China’s decarbonization.
China’s climate pledge (its “nationally determined contribution”, or NDC) aimed for 1,200 gigawatts (GW) of wind and solar power capacity by 2030, and for 25% of energy consumption to be met by non-fossil fuels by 2030. Achieving these goals is expected to ensure China’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions peak before 2030, but to fall short of a pathway towards carbon neutrality.
Therefore, to the extent that the new 14FYP for renewables can meet or over perform on its goals, it would also contribute to China’s effort to peak carbon emissions early and help bridge the global emission reduction gap towards a 1.5C pathway.
In the 1980s an official at the utility co-chaired a conference where scientific researchers fretted that “as we continue to exploit the vast deposits of fossil fuels” it could cause “disruptive climate changes.” Not only did Southern Company fail to adjust its business model towards cleaner energy sources, it began paying for print advertisements saying climate change was not real, Alberta-based investigative climate reporter Geoff Dembicki writes for The Guardian. “Who told you the earth was warming,” asks one ad from 1991.
Years after receiving multiple credible warnings about the atmospheric damage caused by its reliance on burning fossil fuels, Southern Company paid over US$62 million to organizations with a long record of spreading disinformation about climate change, a report released Wednesday by a fossil fuel watchdog called the Energy and Policy Institute has found. Southern has now become the third-largest greenhouse gas polluter in the U.S. due to its fleet of coal-and gas-burning power plants.
Girls as young as 12 are being forced into marriage at “alarming rates” in the Horn of Africa, Unicef has warned, as the worst drought in 40 years is pushing families to make desperate choices to survive. Across the region, at least 18 million people are facing food shortages, as the third drought to hit in 11 years has been exacerbated by spiralling prices triggered by the war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, 1.8 million children are severely malnourished.
According to Unicef analysis, child marriage has more than doubled in a year in the three regions of Ethiopia most affected by the drought. Growing numbers of impoverished parents are marrying off their daughters to secure dowries to help support the rest of the family, “to have one less mouth to feed”, or in an attempt to help the bride enter a better-off household, the UN agency said. The surge in child marriage is a reversal of decades of progress. Prior to this year, 40% of girls in the region were getting married under the age of 18, compared with 70% three decades ago.
In parts of the region, FGM – a non-medical practice where the genitals are cut – is a precursor to marriage. Although data is limited, analysis of available figures in three of Ethiopia’s worst hit areas found cases of FGM rose by 27% between January and April 2022, compared the same timeframe in 2021.
Globally, nationally and locally, the pandemic continues in many countries, including here in Canada, though many feel it's over. But it's just getting worse, thanks to Omicron subvariants BA.4/5. Over the last week, cases up by ~10% to 1,000,000/day; deaths are again up this week by about 40% to 2400/day; and vaccinations are way up to about 8 million/day (from 3m last week).
The pandemic is still with us and cases and deaths are on the upswing, all from the widespread relaxation of public health measures. How many people do you now see wearing a mask? The BA.4/5 subvariants are of great concern because of their enhanced ability to spread and evade newly learned immune responses.
Vaccination still remains a great way to keep safe from serious consequences in yourself and others, including long Covid which is becoming more understood. Ensure to get all the shots/boosters you can and protect yourself with other public health measures.
See below for a few global stats and current hotspots.
Health experts across the globe are signalling alarm as they begin reporting that Omicron BA.5, the coronavirus strain that is currently outpacing other variants in infection and has become the dominant strain in the US and abroad, has the ability to reinfect people within weeks of contracting the virus. Read more at Independent
Read how HelpAge International has been addressing the disproportionate health risks faced by older people and mitigating against the collateral impacts of measures such as lockdowns and closures.
Seals are known to be attracted by the sea around windfarms; researchers found that tagged individuals in the North Sea traced out ‘a striking grid pattern’ in their daily movements, swimming directly from one wind turbine to the next – hunting for fish. As with other physical structures in the sea, from mangrove roots to coral reefs, wind farms appear to afford fish at least some shelter from predators – and from modern industrial fishing boats. More complex structures such as sunken ships attract both fish and large crustaceans such as lobsters and crabs. In Scotland fishing communities have successfully dropped scrap vehicles onto featureless sandy areas of sea floor to attract these creatures and effectively increase local marine biodiversity as well as their catch. The underwater section of wind- turbine towers can suffer scouring from currents, and they also attract colonisation by the larvae of corals and other sedentary marine organisms. Some green energy companies are starting to think laterally; could their turbines be protected by underwater structures that at the same time enhance marine biodiversity from corals to fish.
In tropical waters the future of coral reefs is matter of urgent concern as bleaching events become more common, and dead reefs become prone to wave damage and collapse. In other places shores without the protection of offshore coral reefs are eroding as sea level rises. Could artificial reefs help? Dr Will Bateman of CCell Technologies in north London certainly thinks so. He has devised a method of producing new reefs very much more quickly than occurs in nature. By passing a small electric charge (produced from wave action or a solar panel) through a grid of steel arches he has found that electrolysis causes artificial limestone to build up on the structure, which acts as a reef, breaking the energy of waves thus protecting the shore. There are several incidental benefits to biodiversity.
The artificial shallow lagoon can potentially become a seagrass zone, and the structure itself attracts new coral colonies to form – a process which can be accelerated by seeding with young coral. The first ‘digital reef’ off the coast of Yucatan, Mexico, is controlled via the internet from the CCell offices in London, with the performance of each few metres monitored continually so the technique can be perfected. In two years, it has already accreted around two centimetres of limestone, demonstrating a far cheaper and more environmentally sensitive method of creating a new reef structure than the present alternative – dropping large concrete blocks offshore. A further development of the technique could be to mimic lost mangroves by constructing digital versions of the complex mangrove-root habitats that are vital fish breeding grounds.
CCell’s technique could potentially add value to windfarms by creating durable underwater structures around their turbine towers. Danish windfarm giant Orsted has even started to plan for ‘rewilding’ the North Sea; they see the possibility of artificial reefs protecting their towers also encouraging new fish spawning grounds safe from illegal fishing. It chimes with the current move towards rewilding; only this week the Marine Conservation Society has announced the designation of four big new Marine Protected Areas in British Waters. With far better protection than previous such zones (such as banning of bottom-trawling), it is hoped that these will contribute to major improvements in the entire marine ecosystem – and restoring commercial fish stocks. Read more at Planetary Health Weekly Blogs
Many coastal fisheries are insufficiently managed as overfishing, climate change and pollution lead to declining fish stocks — which jeopardizes the lives and livelihoods of people who rely on those natural resources. Hardly any marine protected areas fall inside territorial waters, due in part to the challenges associated with setting up “no-take zones” in areas densely populated by humans, and coastal waters rarely fall under any sort of protection. Read more at Devex
Luton Airport is currently Britain’s fifth largest airport. When it comes to private jets however, it’s number one – or at least it was pre-pandemic. More private jets come and go from Luton than from any other UK airport, with Harrods Aviation and Signature both based there.
Luton Airport plans to expand using a mechanism called Green Controlled Growth. But private aviation cannot be squared with any kind of sustainability goals. Private planes have an enormous climate impact. Read more at Earth Bound
The goal of this Series paper is to show how road safety has evolved as a global public health issue over the past two decades and to discuss the political and economic dynamics that led to this change. Specifically, the key stakeholders, influences, networks, issue framing, actor power, and synergistic interactions that have contributed to how road safety has evolved as a global public health issue will be discussed. In doing so, we capture the important chronology of events and discuss a set of challenges that highlight the complexity of road safety. We posit that the global road safety community needs to re-evaluate its role and strategy for the next decade and focus more on implementation and country action to achieve reductions in road traffic injuries. We call for an open and inclusive process to ensure that such a reflection occurs before the end of the current decade. Read more at The Lancet
The short answer is yes.The long answer is yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss *deep breath* ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.
Every day, over 1 million trees are cut down to make traditional toilet paper. And this is assuming that just over half the world’s wipers use traditional toilet paper (all signs point to the numbers being a lot higher, but hey, we’re being conservative). How did we get to this number? Well, like us, you may have heard a few deforestation statistics like this floating around about. We wanted to get to the bottom (hehe) of it ourselves, so we commissioned a report from an environmental 3rd party about the impact of traditional TP on the environment. Read more at Who Gives a Crap
Striking a blow against a pernicious form of pollution, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law the nation’s most far-reaching restrictions on single-use plastics and packaging.
Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) had tried for years to get state legislators to tackle the growing plastic pollution crisis but has faced opposition from the plastics industry, some food container manufacturers and environmentalists who believe the law doesn’t go far enough. “Relief,” was how he described his emotional state after the legislation was signed. “It’s been a long journey.” Read more at Los Angeles Times
Tata Chemicals Europe has opened the UK’s first industrial scale carbon capture and usage plant, signaling a key milestone in the race to meet the UK’s, and the world’s, net zero targets.
The plant captures 40,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide each year—the equivalent to taking over 20,000 cars off the roads, and ten-times more than what Green Network News reported to be the world’s largest carbon capture factory just 10 months ago.
The $24 million (£20 million) investment has been completed by UK-based Tata Chemicals Europe, one of Europe’s leading producers of sodium carbonate, salt and baking soda, and they expect it to lower their carbon emissions by more than 10%. Read more at Good News Network
For every thousand people alive on earth, 973 are regularly inhaling toxins. Only 27 are not. Which means, almost certainly, you are too.
Last fall, the World Health Organization lowered its global air quality standard from 10 micrograms of particulate matter per cubic meter to five. Those terms and standards can feel abstract, which makes their meaning a bit hard to fathom. But last month the University of Chicago’s Air Quality Life Index project — the gold standard on global air quality research — releaseda major update, incorporating the new guidelines and producing that 973 out of 1,000 (97.3 percent) figure.
The harm is most intense in poorer, still-industrializing places. But the revision was especially dramatic, A.Q.L.I. found, in the wealthier parts of the world. In the United States, before the W.H.O. update, about 8 percent of the country was judged to be breathing dirty air; after, the figure was 93 percent. Across Europe, the revision pushed the numbers from 47 percent to 95.5 percent.
Welcome to this MOOC, part 2 of a series titled Knowledge Translation: Promoting Evidence-informed Practices and Policies.
These days, researchers, practitioners and decision makers are placing greater emphasis on using evidence to improve interventions, healthcare and the well-being of populations. This trend is particularly significant in sectors that address social issues such as health, social, educational and judicial interventions and services. This movement can be seen in the emergence of new approaches that promote an increased use of research: knowledge translation, evidence-informed decision-making and practices, knowledge mobilization, knowledge utilization, knowledge enhancement, etc.
Studies on the subject show that the process leading to the use of knowledge is so complex that science and research still barely get taken into account in practice and decision-making communities. There is consensus in scientific literature that the efforts made to make scientific knowledge available are necessary, but not sufficient, for their actual use in practice communities. This course has been designed to address these issues.
The second MOOC in the series focuses exclusively on the preparation of policy briefs. By the end of this course, you will be able to distinguish between different types of policy briefs and identify key elements that characterize their effectiveness. In addition, you will learn more about the different steps involved in producing a policy brief and the different choices that must be made with regards to its content. You will therefore be better equipped to prepare your own clear, rigorous, credible and convincing policy briefs.
This series of free online courses was developed by the RENARD team in collaboration with the Institut de recherche pour le développement and with the support of Université de Montréal’s Centre de pédagogie universitaire. Read more at Catalogue
SPOTLIGHT ON INDIGENOUS WELLNESS
Indigenous Services Canada COVID-19 Monthly Update – July 2022
Credit: Indigenous Services Canada
COVID-19 continues to impact communities across the country, and Indigenous Services Canada remains available to assist in prevention and response efforts. The Government of Canada is monitoring COVID-19 throughout the country including the newest variants of concern BA.4 and BA.5.
Monthly review – June 2022
In June 2022, the following data was reported from First Nations communities:
International Health Trends and Perspectives (a new journal based at Toronto Metropolitan University, formerly Ryerson University, Toronto) is dedicating a special issue to the topic of Planetary Health to highlight research, theoretical and community based contributions of scientists, scholars and activists globally. It is inviting manuscripts that are solutions and equity-focused. See the call for papers and details here: https://bit.ly/3tDixHT
November 21-23, 2022: Canadian Conference on Global HealthJoin us in Toronto for the 28th Canadian Conference on Global Health (CCGH). This year's hybrid event will explore the theme of: "Inclusive Global Health in Uncertain Times: Research and Practice".
FYI#1 SPOTLIGHT ON MEDIA
How Minds Change On-screen and At Home
Credit : Article
Your stories have the power to change hearts and minds—and you don’t just have to take our word for it. Science says! If you’re interested in the psychology behind how those hearts and minds are changed—and how you can optimize your influence—here’s an inside look, sourced from Rare’s work at the Center for Behavior and the Environment, as well as other psychologists working on climate solutions.
NORMALIZING CLIMATE ACTION
What do you think is the best predictor of climate action? Political orientation? Climate concern? Nope. By far, it’s whether a person believes that other people are already taking action—which turns out to matter even more than their own belief that they should take action. All of which means that when climate-friendly actions are depicted on-screen as common, normal, and expected, viewers will be more likely to change their behavior.
POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT, NOT SKEPTICISM
People are social. Their senses are finely tuned to how new behaviors are received by their group. If climate-friendly actions on-screen are received by other characters with interest, support, or acceptance, audiences are more likely to adopt them themselves. On the other hand, if a character is ridiculed, ostracized, or punished for taking a given action, people notice and take it as a warning.
Investments in plant-based alternatives to meat lead to far greater cuts in climate-heating emissions than other green investments, according to one of the world’s biggest consultancy firms.
The report from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) found that, for each dollar, investment in improving and scaling up the production of meat and dairy alternatives resulted in three times more greenhouse gas reductions compared with investment in green cement technology, seven times more than green buildings and 11 times more than zero-emission cars.
Investments in the plant-based alternatives to meat delivered this high impact on emissions because of the big difference between the greenhouse gases emitted when producing conventional meat and dairy products, and when growing plants. Beef, for example, results in six-to-30 times more emissions than tofu.
Children with Vegetarian Diet Have Growth and Nutrition Similar to Those Who Eat Meat: Toronto Study
Professor Jonathon Maguire. Credit: St. Michael's Hospital, Unity Health Toronto
A study of nearly 9,000 children has found those who eat a vegetarian diet had similar measures of growth and nutrition compared to children who eat meat.
The study, led by researchers at the University of Toronto and St. Michael’s Hospital of Unity Health Toronto, also found that children with a vegetarian diet had higher odds of underweight weight status — emphasizing the need for special care when planning the diets of vegetarian kids.
The findings were published in the journal Pediatrics, and come as a shift to consuming a plant-based diet grows in Canada. In 2019, updates to Canada’s Food Guide urged Canadians to embrace plant-based proteins, such as beans and tofu, instead of meat.
Firearms Are the Leading Cause of Death for Children in the United States But Rank No Higher Than Fifth in Other Industrialized Nations
Credit: Article
Firearms are now the number one cause of death for children in the United States, but rank no higher than fifth in 11 other large and wealthy countries, a new KFF analysis finds. Guns – including accidental deaths, suicides, and homicides – killed 4,357 children (ages 1-19 years old) in the United States in 2020, or roughly 5.6 per 100,000 children.
"Flourish: Design Paradigms for Our Planetary Emergency" by Sarah Inchioka and Michael Pawlyn
Credit: Book Cover
Regenerative design and architecture. What will it take to restore balance to our world, repair past injustices, and support future generations’ survival? Reaching beyond ‘sustainability,’ ‘regenerative’ practice is increasingly named as a new goal, but what does this emerging term really mean? And which key mindset shifts might enable truly regenerative transformation? Looking deeply into the web of life that created and supports us, and drawing inspiration from diverse cultural traditions and perspectives, spirited thinkers Michael Pawlyn and Sarah Ichioka propose a bold set of regenerative principles with potential to transform how we design, make, and manage our buildings, infrastructure and communities. Whether you’re a built environment professional or client, an activist or a policymaker, Flourish offers an urgent invitation to inhabit a new array of possibilities, through which we can build a thriving future, together.
6 Things We've learned About How the Pandemic Disrupted Learning
How did the pandemic disrupt learning for America's more than 50 million K-12 students?
For two years, that question has felt immeasurable, like a phantom, though few educators doubted the shadow it cast over children who spent months struggling to learn online.
Now, as a third pandemic school year draws to a close, new research offers the clearest accounting yet of the crisis's academic toll — as well as reason to hope that schools can help.
Current News on Ecological Wellness and Global Health
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