Globally, we’re currently facing a triple crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution with the WHO estimating that more than 13 million deaths around the world per year happen due to environmental causes including climate change. In the latest episode of the DocTalks vodcast, Doctors of BC Past President, Dr Ramneek Dosanjh, hosted a roundtable discussion with her guests to discuss the pressing issue of planetary health and climate change, what doctors should know about this issue, how climate change impacts public health, and how doctors can support efforts in this crisis.
Her guests are:
Dr Melissa Lem is a Vancouver family physician who also works in rural and northern communities. President of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment and Director of Park Prescriptions for the BC Parks Foundation, she is an internationally recognized leader in the nature and health movement.
Dr Warren Bell has been a family physician in Salmon Arm for 43 years, the past founding president of CAPE, and has been an environment and global health advocate since the early 1980s.
Dr Douglas Courtemanche is an investigator and craniofacial plastic surgeon and the Director of Vascular Anomalies Clinic at BC Children’s Hospital. He has been in practice in BC for over 30 years. He is a member of Doctors for Planetary Health and participated in the Rally last November at the Legislature asking the Provincial Government to declare a climate health emergency.
Watch the episode:
Resources:
Doctors of BC’s policy on climate change and human health
Doctors for Planetary Health Code Red for British Columbia
Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment
CAPE Climate Change Toolkit for Health professionals
This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein
Article: What next on climate? The need for a new moderate flank
