We can take a bite out of emissions

In a summer during which Canadians have felt the reverberating loss of extreme climate-related events near them, it is increasingly clear that immediate, coordinated strategies are needed to overcome the climate emergency.

Food and a functioning health care system are priorities for us. Deliciously, solutions for the two are an interlinked way to improve planetary health.

Canadian hospitals spend more than $4 billion annually on food services which could drive a shift that keeps us fed long-term. If we use the purchasing power of our health systems in alignment with Canada's new, plant-rich food guide and prioritize local options, we can steward a robust local food economy.

This provides jobs and makes us less reliant on imports from other countries struggling with climate disruption, while we improve human health, and reduce the water and land use, and greenhouse gas emissions associated with our food.

A triple win for human health, the planet, and the economy.

A special pledge

So how do we make this transition at scale?

Nourish is a charity dedicated to working throughout the country to make food the cornerstone of a more sustainable, equitable, and preventative health care system. Hospitals commit to the Cool Food Pledge and to reduce their climate impact by 25 per cent by 2030 through menu shifts.

We assist this shift with a Planetary Health Menus program that helps design delicious, culturally appropriate, plant-rich menus. Four million meals at 17 hospitals are already improving for people and the planet. Our goal is 100 hospitals by 2026. Organizations can sign up and take the Pledge today as a first step to more sustainable menus.

Compared to many countries, Canada is fortunate from a food security standpoint, as the fifth-largest food exporter globally. If we could all base our diets entirely on lentils and wheat we’d be golden, as we produce 33 per cent and 12 per cent of the world’s supply of them, respectively. However, we import 81 per cent of our fruit and vegetables, and much of it comes from places where hot, dry conditions are putting workers and harvests at risk.

The globe just completed a year at over 1.5 degrees Celsius of global surface temperature warming. Continued warming of this degree begins to put Mother Earth at risk of tipping points within the climate system that could lead to change we won’t be able to reverse. We need to expect further instability in food production and ensure that Canadian farmers get the support they need to keep us fed long-term.

Health systems are sowing the seeds of a new approach. The Feed BC Healthcare program aims to improve the patient experience while supporting producers to build a local food supply and deliver the best of the season to the bedside.

Leading health authorities like Vancouver Coastal Health are already taking a bite out of low-carbon menus with a successful pilot at the largest hospital in B.C., which found that planet-friendly foods are possible, and even preferable, in health care.

When it mapped its carbon footprint, CISSS de Laval in Quebec discovered that 11 per cent of its emissions were food-related. Red meat purchases accounted for one-third of the emissions, yet it represents only three per cent of the total food served. This study showed that reducing red meat can help to decarbonize health care and support healthier diets.

This summer, as fires, floods and heat affect our daily lives more than ever, we invite every health care system to take the Coolfood Pledge. Together, we can re-imagine our hospital food to become deliciously healing — for people and the planet we depend on.

Heat warnings, flash floods, and multiple wildfire-related evacuations, have become a harsh reality, with Jasper National Park facing unprecedented destruction — 33 per cent of the town’s structures and 32,000 hectares of forest lost to uncontrollable fires.

These disasters not only wreak havoc on the environment, but also pose severe health risks. Canadians are now monitoring air quality forecasts as closely as the weather, with many experiencing the impacts of heat exhaustion which exacerbates heart and lung conditions.

Now more than ever, it is evident that the planet's health is a key determinant of human health. The interconnection between human and planetary health has never been more important. The concept of planetary health, defined by the Lancet journal as “the health of human civilization and the state of the natural systems upon which it depends,” underscores this vital relationship.

Unfortunately, we are not at a new normal — Canada will continue to warm until at least mid-century under all feasible emissions pathways. It will be challenging to adapt to the warming we have already signed up for, let alone that which will become assured if we don’t emergently decrease greenhouse gas emissions.

What kind of quality and quantity of life do we consider acceptable to bequeath to our children, grandchildren, and future generations?

Amy Ford is a former healthcare food services leader, now dedicated to catalyzing systems transformation for improved human and environmental health. Currently serving as the Director of Planetary Health at Nourish Leadership, Ford spearheads the Planetary Health Menus program, which aims to support 100 hospitals in making climate-friendly food decisions by 2026.

Dr Courtney Howard is an emergency physician in Yellowknives Dene Territory, a clinical associate professor at the University of Calgary. The vice-chair of the Global Climate and Health Alliance, Dr Howard has researched menstrual cups and wildfires, and led policy work and advocacy regarding social tipping points and the health sector, ecoanxiety, vaccine equity, active transport, plant-rich diets, fossil fuel divestment, carbon pricing, coal phase-out, hydraulic fracturing and with regards to Canada’s Oil Sands.