Earth Day 2022
The urgency to reduce our impact on the planet has never been more evident. The NHS contributes a significant 5% to the UK’s carbon footprint which is hugely understandable with the NHS being one of the largest employers to help provide the UK healthcare service. As a healthcare property and service provider, we have the opportunity to take responsibility and help distinguish a route to reach the net zero* targets and go beyond; from our operational habits, to the buildings that we provide, to the knowledge we share and the conversations we continue to have. *Net Zero meaning that the emissions of harmful gases that are released into environment by our activity are counteracted.
The threats to public health from the planetary crisis begin with air pollution, floods, heatwaves, damage to mental health, extension of infectious disease; pandemics, shortages of food, shortages of water, forced migration, conflict over resources. There are many factors contributing to a disruption in our earths climate and it may seem very overwhelming.
The key message is to simply keep the conversation regarding our earths future and the impact that it will and has on our health as a key topic. There is still hesitancy and reluctancy to believe that our everyday habits in and outside the workplace has an impact in reaching Net Zero. There is still some disregards that the climate crisis is a health crisis. This viewpoint can be swayed towards the reality of climate change by having our healthcare professionals talk about this and influence those in conversation. We can accelerate our aim of Net Zero by providing and sharing awareness of the potential risks supported with reassurance that we still have the opportunity to change. The conversation that air pollution can have a direct impact on our health, that increase temperature can have an impact on health, however, we are able to prevent and/or reduce this impact with first awareness and behavioural change.
We hope to inform and provide the facilities in our infrastructures to adopt and maintain Net Zero habits and started to do this by aligning with various standards such as BREEAM and Passivhaus. Within our builds we recognise that having the environmental to follow these behavioural changes is key and we aim to provide builds that are not only suitable for when we handover to the practices but they have longevity and will be sustainable. The size of the build, the temperatures and natural elements that the building may be exposed to, the opportunity for natural lighting, the materials used, how the materials are transported and how they are discarded after the buildings lifespan are only a few of the building considerations that affect our earth.
By continuing to look into the wider field to adopt innovative ideas, we know that will help lower our carbon footprint and allow net zero to become the minimum standard to help our planet. With further data collection and expansion of knowledge we hope to collaborate with forward thinkers to help continue to build sustainable builds for our earth and our health.
