I cannot remember a time when the environment was not important to me. I recall being a young kid and wanting to do all my science fair projects on saving endangered species and bringing people’s attention to what we then exclusively called global warming. As I grew to a teenager and now a young adult, my zeal for involving others in climate action never wavered; but my understanding of how to go about enacting change and motivating others to engage in change has grown and expanded immeasurably.
During the summer before university, I went on an expedition to the Amazon Jungle in Peru where I assisted scientists working for Operation Wallacea in tracking animal behavior and the ecosystem with the goal of furthering sustainability and championing for environmental preservation. When I got back, I went straight into a Bachelor of Science thinking that the only way I could contribute to sustainable development was through being a scientist. At that time, I was incredibly interested in studying microbes and the impact they have on greenhouse gas emissions and absorption. Within one month of classes starting, I knew I did not want to spend the next four years of my life earning a BSc. However, I was bound by the fact that I thought the only people that can have an impact on climate action are people working directly in sciences. I continued to “tough it out” in sciences for 2 years before with a heavy heart thinking that I could never contribute to sustainability now, I switched into the nursing program.
Going into nursing, I had no idea that I would be able to incorporate my passion for sustainability together with my passion for health equity. When I was presented the opportunity to join the pilot year of Co – Creating a Sustainable BC I was overjoyed that although my education wouldn’t allow me to contribute to sustainability, extracurricular volunteering would. I was not at all prepared for the massive mindset shift I was about to undergo. Through CCSBC I learnt that environmental sustainability isn’t just isolated to research and jobs advertised as green jobs; environmental sustainability is everywhere and every industry and individual has to make change. I was excited and newly motivated with my newfound knowledge of the interconnectedness of sustainability. Through CCSBC I had the opportunity to attend the Adaptation Canada 2020 conference in February of 2020. This conference was the real turning point in how I was going to incorporate the environment into my nursing practice. At this conference we had multiple presentations by different organizations and among them were the First Nations Health Authority and a health research group from Montreal whose name I cannot recall. During these presentations, I learnt about how the changing climate will be impacting people’s health and especially people who are already in vulnerable positions. This was revolutionary learning for me because as stated earlier, my biggest passions include sustainability and health equity. When I got back from the conference, I poured over my notes from the previous semester to look for information on how health and the climate were intertwined and reflected back on my Indigenous Health class and my Health and Health Promotion class, realizing how integral to my nursing practice environmental sustainability is. Unless the world collectively takes climate action, people’s health will suffer in relation to the higher temperatures and environmental hazards. More than that, food and water sources are tied with the environment and humans need both to live. Climate change isn’t just an environmental issue, it is a health issue because health and environment are irrevocably tied together; that is the understanding and impact I hope to have in healthcare.
The biggest learning, I have acquired throughout earning the Leadership in Environmental Sustainability Certificate is that anyone in any industry can make a change because sustainability doesn’t just have one facet. I now have the tools, motivation, and knowledge to advocate for developing sustainable practices within the health care field that do not compromise patient safety and quality of care. Furthermore, I can now impress upon my peers in healthcare the importance of tying people’s health and the changing climate together and how vital it is for us to be prepared to provide supports to communities; mitigating the effects of dangerously high temperatures and poor air quality. To be a truly environmentally conscious and sustainable global community, we all need to take steps to make our areas of work and living sustainable. Each building block of change amounts to the greater goal and no block of change is too small to be excluded.
