March 2025 climate and health round-up
Welcome to the new subscribers (and ongoing love to the old)! Please do feel free to share this with anyone you think would find it useful, interesting, inspiring, soothing...and do get in touch with any feedback. Here’s what caught my eye this month.
Inspiration: The Green Maternity Challenge
If you're in need of some grassroots, frontline inspiration, I recommend you take a look at the results of the Green Maternity Challenge. In just 16 weeks, nine teams from different parts of the NHS worked on projects to reduce carbon emissions, while addressing health inequalities and improving patient care in maternity services. Win-win-win!
The next Challenge programme run by the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare (CSH) is the Green Nursing Challenge – you'll need to be quick if you want to take part, as applications are due in by Friday 21st March.
Research: Reducing emissions from anaesthesia without impacting care
Inhaled anaesthetics are well known for having a significant greenhouse gas impact and a number of projects have focused on making changes to agents and delivery systems. But it can be concerning to people that changing anaesthesia for environmental reasons might mean sub-standard care. Not so! A new study, published in The Lancet Planetary Health in February, focuses on the patient safety outcomes of a green anaesthesia project in Michigan, USA.
The team looked at data from people who had general anaesthetic in the year before a change was introduced and in the year after (over 90,000 patients in total). Carbon emissions reduced by over 14kg per person, with no detriment to patient outcomes (e.g. pain, nausea or awareness). Over a year, this carbon reduction is the equivalent of (not) driving 1.7 million miles in a car. Astonishing.
Research: Climate impacts on young people's health
A youth co-led study conducted in Bangladesh, Guatemala and Nigeria, published in BMJ Global Health, highlights the effects climate change is having on young people's health.
Focus group discussions with almost 200 people aged between 12 and 25 explored experiences and perceptions of climate change, including through events like flooding, extreme heat and drought. Themes included impacts on food security, sexual and reproductive health, and mental health.
Article: Sustainable use of medicinal plants
I love it when I stumble on a whole new field of fascinating work – and in this case, a new word, ‘pharmacognosy’.
This paper in Frontiers in Pharmacology introduced me to the issues climate change poses for medicinal plants. Changes in weather patterns impact plants and pollinators, while humans also have an impact through land-use change and overharvesting plants. The authors argue that strategies for preserving these plant populations are urgently needed, especially for those which are harvested from the wild or from traditional growing systems. They present case studies of seven vulnerable plant species from different parts of the world and propose a framework that promotes conservation and sustainable use.
Report: NHS England Health and Climate Adaptation
Last week, NHS England published its fourth Health and Climate Adaptation Report. It recognises that the impacts of climate change are likely to be unequally distributed, worsening health inequalities.
Adaptation is interesting. Yes, we must reduce carbon emissions, as much as we can and as fast as we can. But climate change is already underway and will continue. We need to prepare and adapt for that future – at the same time as we decarbonise. I’m sure that, given the space to think about adaptation, people working in healthcare would revolutionise the systems they work in – tackling decarbonisation and health inequalities in one fell swoop.
The new report focuses on three key areas, giving updates on progress and recommendations: health information systems; service delivery and infrastructure; and leadership, workforce and resourcing.
Feature: What can qualitative research tell us about extreme weather events?
A review published in the journal SSM – Qualitative Research in Health looks at the evidence on people’s experiences of climate change events. It focuses on studies in the UK, but makes the case for the inclusion of qualitative research more widely in the climate change and health field.
News: UKRI funds research hubs on net zero and health
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) have announced they will fund seven transdisciplinary research hubs. The hubs will focus on health and health inequalities as the UK moves towards net zero.
Research will be focused across five areas: transport and the built environment; the indoor environment; sustainable diets; extreme weather; and decarbonising health and social care.
Congratulations to all concerned! Looks like some really interesting work ahead. (Get in touch if I can help!)
Online event: Integrating climate and health policies
The Global Climate and Health Alliance is hosting an online briefing with George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication. It will explore research findings from a project that spanned six world regions, looking at barriers and strategies for integrating climate change and health policies.
The event is scheduled for Wednesday 19th March at 2pm (UK).
Online events: Public health and climate change
The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is hosting a conference on ‘Climate change, public health and local action’. It is taking place in London, but will be live-streamed free online.
It is the annual conference of the Health Protection Research Unit in Environmental Change and Health and there are lots of interesting speakers and topics. The conference is scheduled for Monday 31st March, 9.30am-5pm (UK).
Separately, the Royal Society for Public Health is hosting a free online event entitled, ‘How are climate opportunities public health opportunities?’ The speaker is Dr Pedro Beltran-Alvarez, Senior Lecturer at Hull York Medical School. The webinar is scheduled for 1pm (UK) on Thursday 3rd April.
Opportunities: Climate and health roles
Imperial’s Institute of Global Health Innovation is recruiting a Communication and Events Trainee (Climate Change and Mental Health), supporting the Climate Cares Centre. The traineeship will run for 12 weeks, full-time, from July. Apply by 30th March.
The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare is recruiting ‘Nature Recovery Rangers’ to lead local conservation and green space engagement activities at NHS sites. Sounds amazing! Apply by 6th April.
What else is catching my eye?
Here’s what I’m reading / where I’ve been hanging out lately / where I’m headed this month (by train).