HEALTH AND SUSTAINABILITY NETWORK NEWSLETTER No 2 FEBRUARY 2009
Please send on to colleagues
www.healthandsustainability.net
We are sending out two newsletters this month as there is so much going on. And we have been delighted to welcome a steady stream of new members of the network.
1. GOING FAST, BUT THERE ARE STILL SOME PLACES LEFT FOR OUR PARTICIPATIVE WORKSHOP ON TACKLING CLIMATE CHANGE ON 20 MARCH IN SHEFFIELD
In partnership with the NHS Sustainable Development Unit, Climate Connection, the Climate and Health Council and the Faculty of Public Health
We are holding a workshop for members of the network and colleagues on Friday 20th March in Sheffield, with thanks to Dr Jeremy Wight and the team at Sheffield Primary Care Trust and City Council.
The workshop will be highly participatory. Its aims are to:
· Offer mutual support
· Share learning, e.g. on low-carbon commissioning
· Develop our skills in communicating with those who are not yet fully engaged
Here is the programme and the registration form.
Please register on the attached form and return this to Margaret Atkins at margaretatkins@macomms.co.uk. The fee is just £40 to cover lunch and refreshments and our administrative costs.
We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible there.
2. SIGN THE CLIMATE AND HEALTH COUNCIL PLEDGE – DEADLINE END MARCH
AND PLEASE ASK EVERYONE YOU KNOW TO AS WELL
www.climateandhealth.org/pledge
Here is a message from our colleagues Robin Stott and Mike Gill, co-chairs of the Climate and Health Council:
In the run up to the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen in December this year, we have embarked on a major campaign, aiming to get at least 10,000 health professionals to sign our pledge by March (just click on 'sign our pledge' on the website to see the text and background), to do what we can to get governments to sign a meaningful deal at Copenhagen. In April/May we intend to launch a 'public' phase where the public are invited to ask their doctor or any other health professional they come across whether they've yet signed up.
Numbers of signatories both from UK and elsewhere are now growing impressively (they are well past 1,000), but we need to keep up the pressure if we are to meet our target.
3. REQUEST FOR INFORMATION FROM ‘THE CLIMATE CONNECTION’: LONG-TERM PLANNING FOR FLOODS AND HEATWAVES
The Climate Connection, a public health partnership for action, is putting together a slide set on health protection/adaptation, in partnership with the Health Protection Agency. They would like to point to some examples of long-term planning for floods and heatwaves – if you have a good one, please email Frances Mortimer, frances@ukpha.org.uk. They have lots of material on planning for response to events, but would like to give equal weight to long-term planning, with real examples of public health input to urban design, building regulations etc.
4. ECO-TOWNS: CONSULTATION ON PLANNING POLICY STATEMENT
There is currently a consultation by the Department of Communities and Local Government on the draft Planning Policy Statement on eco-towns. This runs to 6 March; here is the link:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/doc/1104524.doc
Imogen Stephens (Consultant in Public Health Medicine, Department of Health South East) is compiling a response, technically on behalf of DH SE, but would be very happy to incorporate the comments of any interested public health stakeholders as this may be the only opportunity to influence this PPS.
Any comments relevant to health concerns relating to this, please respond to:
imogen.stephens@dh.gsi.gov.uk by 25 Feb if possible.
5. RESOURCES
We are selective in the resources and materials we suggest to you because there is far too much to read...but we do recommend the following:
a. Green Well Fair: Three Economies for Social Justice by Anna Coote and Jane Franklin, published by the New Economics Foundation. We cannot adequately address either the financial crisis or climate change if our society is unequal and divided. In this pamphlet, nef calls for a modern welfare system that can meet the challenges of environmental and economic meltdown.
http://www.neweconomics.org.uk/gen/z_sys_PublicationDetail.aspx?pid=281
b. Worldwatch Institute 2009 State of the World Report: Into a Warming World. 18 pages, plain English, clear overview of climate change:
c. Green Alliance The new politics of climate change: why we are failing and how we succeed. Jackie Spiby attended the launch of this document written by Stephen Hale, director of the Green Alliance, which calls on the third sector to exercise strong leadership to persuade politicians to make the necessary policy changes, before it is too late. Join the debate!
http://www.green-alliance.org.uk/grea_p.aspx?id=3400
d. Reducing the carbon footprint of events and conferences: we have collected up three useful resources:
· The UK Public Health Association has measured and is reducing the carbon footprint of their very large annual conference. See http://www.ukphaconference.org.uk/sustainable.html for details of what they are doing for the March 2009 Annual Forum. They will not be serving meat in view of its very large carbon footprint. They used Best Foot Forward to measure the carbon footprint last year’s Forum.
· Sustainable Events Guide from Defra:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/sustainable/government/advice/documents/SustainableEventsGuide.pdf
· Sustainable Food for Meetings – Catering Guide from Sustainhttp://www.sustainweb.org/page.php?id=425
6. WWF’s EARTH HOUR 2009 – 28 March
WWF wants a billion people to switch off their lights for one hour on March 28, 2009. Find out more and sign up here.
With best wishes from Jenny and Alison