This will be a wonderful place to keep tabs on. I’ll read it every day. The first talk is about pesticides. The provincial government of British Columbia is considering a ban on cosmetic pesticide use. I hope it’s passed into law.
In a stunning statement, the city of Toronto has mandated that all new buildings have green roofs.
Here’s the link to a very good site hosted by the U.N.
And another one to “Health Care Without Harm” in the U.S.
This just in!
TORONTO, March 4, 2009 – When the province’s pesticide law takes effect
next month, it will include a comprehensive list of harmful and toxic
substances banned for use on gardens and lawns.
The sweeping regulations released today by the Ministry of Environment
cap a long campaign by the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario
(RNAO), as part of a coalition of health and environmental groups that
pushed for fast implementation of the law.
“The Premier and the Minister of the Environment are to be congratulated
for heeding the call of health and environmental organizations.
Pesticides are poisonous and children right across the province will be
better protected thanks to this announcement,” says Wendy Fucile,
President of RNAO.
“These regulations set a new standard. Ontario is ahead of any
jurisdiction in North America when it comes to banning the display, sale
and use of cosmetic pesticides,” says Doris Grinspun, RNAO’s Executive
Director.
While RNAO is pleased that the new law about to take effect will make
the province a healthier place to live, the association says its work
isn’t finished. Nurses will continue to push the government to extend
its ban to include golf courses.
The Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) is the professional
association representing registered nurses wherever they practise in
Ontario. Since 1925, RNAO has lobbied for healthy public policy,
promoted excellence in nursing practice, increased nurses’ contribution
to shaping the health-care system, and influenced decisions that affect
nurses and the public they serve.
For more information, see the Provincial News Release.
My students asked me to address the effects on health of climate change in class today. When I started putting things together it became very clear that global health will be severely affected by three things: climate change, peak oil and over-population. Then, just as we begin to address these inter-related crises, we find out that global capitalism was built on fraud and is collapsing down around our ears, eliminating trillions of dollars in paper wealth. This was the money we would be using to re-tool the auto industry, to build alternative energy systems like solar and wind and tidal power, develop agriculture without oil-based pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, and now it’s gone.
Let’s back up. Why did I say that that these three things, peak oil, climate change, and over-population, are inter-related? The global addiction to fossil fuels made possible cities, trade and agriculture by fueling modern transportation, agricultural machinery and fertilizers (made from oil). This is not to mention all the other products made from or with the help of oil and coal: plastics, steel, aluminum, etc. The result is too many people for the planet to sustain and widespread ecosystem destruction. Just in time, we developed enough science to figure out what we were doing to our planet. Also just in time, we’re running out of oil. Unfortunately, we still have a lot of coal. There are too many people and we’re ruining every ecosystem on the planet (air, water, soil and ocean) by burning fossil fuels to try and feed them all. This is unsustainable. Everyone knows this is true. So this is the triple whammy
So now we gear up to address these issues and save the planet and some kind of human civilization, albeit with a much reduced lifestyle. So what happens? We find out that globalization has been created from a cocktail of fraud, greed, deception, and various ponzi schemes and illegal wealth creation.
My students call me “Dr. Doom and Gloom” and they’re right. Things don’t look very good right now:
- Commercial fish populations are collapsing and ocean “dead zones” are growing larger. No fish to eat,
and no jobs for people who fish.
- Agricultural soils around the world are losing their fertility from the application of commercial
fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. No food to eat and no food to sell.
- Temperatures are rising. Never-before-seen levels of drought are happening in China, Australia, Texas,
Argentina, the U.S. upper mid-west, and Brazil. Even less food to eat and farmers starving.
- Social unrest is rising sharply. Mexico is in chaos, food riots are on-going around the world. Protests
and riots are happening in Greece, Guadaloupe, Latvia, Ireland, Iceland, Spain, Pakistan, India, and China.
- Global economic measures are collapsing. Global shipping is down 75%. Ports are sitting idle. People
are losing their jobs. Less is being produced, and people can’t buy things anyway. Global demand drops.
- Therefore, global spending is way down. No one is buying because they’re just trying to survive.
- Internal tensions are rising in many countries because people can’t buy food, obtain housing or schooling
or medical care. This will give rise to civil wars and regional wars.
- Access to the last drops of oil are drying up. This means more wars.
How can we possibly work together to solve the problems of the triple whammy when there is no global wealth, everyone is suspicious of everybody else, and people are simply trying to stay alive? What will we do when the temperature rises so much that billions of people will be forced to abandon low-lying areas of the world? Can we absorb the refugees? How will we feed them?
Got any suggestions? I’d like to hear them.
If you’re interested in changing your life by reducing your carbon footprint (and saving money, too) you should go to Treehugger and see the latest news on many green products. You will see electric vehicles, vegetarian recipes, green building ideas, and a lot more. Click on the “Treehugger” link to the right.
A new position statement has been placed on the CNA website regarding climate change. This, added to the CNA/CMA statement on environmentally responsible health care, places us on notice that we need to pay more attention to this subject in our professional lives. Have you as a nurse or as a nursing school undertaken any “green” initiatives? If so, I’d like to hear about them. I’m in the process of surveying all schools of nursing in Canada about what they do in nursing classrooms and in their schools about cutting back on carbon emissions. I’ll be publishing this someday, and then we can see where we stand.
The new position statement can be found under the “links” to the right, titled, “2009 CNA Position Statement”
Penny
The global financial crisis deepens. A thousand nurses have been laid off in Minnesota. Unemployment is rising in the U.S. and Canada to levels not seen since the Great Depression. Stimulus bills are pending in Canada and the U.S. Sweden has reversed its stance on nuclear power plants and is going to allow construction of new power plants on existing sites.
This worries me greatly, although it is perfectly predictable. When the going gets tough, the environment falls to last in the list of priorities. Who cut down the last tree on Easter Island? Someone who wanted it for firewood, no doubt.
We can’t let depression economics trump saving the planet. We can solve both with the creation of a new green economy, but I’m not hearing very many people suggesting this. When money is tight, people should be eating less junk food, not more, but more is what’s happening, according to the figures. Apples and a bag of split peas are a lot cheaper per meal than a Big Mac, but that’s not what’s happening.
Hang on to your jobs, folks. Get out of debt. Cut back on your spending by massive amounts. Start a vegetable garden in your yard. You’ll need it.
Penny
By request, I have put a link to the ANA resolution over on the right. Resolutions are good, but I hope to see some actual binding regulations from the ANA soon. Action needs to be taken now, not three years from now. Health care is one of the world’s worst polluters and greenhouse gas emitters, but no one says anything because we “do good” for people. That’s not enough, in my opinion. Save the people but ruin the earth? We now have the technology to keep people alive past the age at which we no longer respect them as human beings. Is this a good thing? I say no.
Penny
At the last House of Delegates meeting of the ANA for 2008, they passed a resolution on climate change. I’m hopeful regarding President Obama’s policy on climate change, but it has become clear in the beginning days of his presidency that he’s no progressive. Even “centrist” is being generous. Here’s a link to the ANA resolution:
http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/OccupationalandEnvironmental/environmentalhealth/PolicyIssues/GlobalClimateChangeandHumanHealth.aspx
Penny