Canada鈥檚 first female astronaut Dr. Roberta Bondar says the health-care sector needs to play an active role in mitigating the impact of climate change on human health.
Bondar has dedicated a significant portion of her life since her space mission to environmental conservation, establishing a foundation that aims to inspire and broaden our knowledge and relationship with earth. Bondar鈥檚 engagement with birds and the environment as a nature photographer following her space flight caused her to reconsider what she could do better to lessen her impact on the world.
鈥淟ooking out the window and seeing the edge of the planet against the black universe and not seeing 鈥 something else coming in to help us really makes one appreciate the fact that the life on our surface is extremely precious and unique,鈥 Bondar told CTV鈥檚 Your Morning on Friday for Earth Day.
Climate change is the single biggest health threat facing humanity, affecting everything from clean air, safe drinking water to food and shelter, according to a 2021 report by the World Health Organization (WHO).
As a neurologist 鈥 the first to travel to space 鈥 with a degree in biology as well, Bondar understands how deeply connected the health of the planet is to the health of its inhabitants. She spoke this week in a panel discussion hosted by the Ontario Medical Association on this interrelationship.
Climate change is shifting wind, air, and water patterns which means diseases are shifting to areas they haven鈥檛 been before, she said. The medical community understands the connection between human health and air quality issues because of fires, for example, or the connection between infections, changes in temperature and movement of mosquitoes, she told Your Morning.
鈥淏ut we also know that in our own practices and in hospitals, that we use a lot of energy and we鈥檙e not perhaps the greenest organization,鈥 she said.
Bondar expressed concern that new doctors and nurses were not sufficiently prepared to deal with climate change-related problems and believes medical education could be improved to address these gaps.
The WHO estimates that approximately 87,000 tonnes of personal protective equipment was procured between March 2020 and November 2021 to respond to urgent pandemic needs and says most of that equipment will end up as waste. Hundreds of millions of test kits are also generating thousands of tons of mostly plastic waste and hundreds of thousands of litres of chemical waste, while billions of vaccine doses already administered are also producing at least 144,000 tons of garbage due to syringes, needles, and safety boxes. This is only an 鈥渋nitial indication of the scale of the COVID-19 waste problem,鈥 the WHO said.
The environment around us is constantly changing and the best way to prepare for those changes is knowledge, Bondar said. She likened people鈥檚 role in helping the environment to a digital photo 鈥 that we are all tiny pixels that add up to something larger and the importance of working together.
Hurricane Milton strengthens into a Category 5 storm off Mexico and threatens Florida, forecasters say.
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Sammy Basso, who was the longest living survivor of the rare genetic disease progeria, has died at the age of 28, the Italian Progeria Association said on Sunday.
Scurvy is not just an archaic diagnosis of 18th-century seafarers and doctors should watch for possible cases, according to researchers following a recent case.
As millions in federal funding flow into a Labrador group whose claims of Inuit identity have been rejected by Indigenous organizations across Canada, a national Inuit leader worries the Liberal government is putting the rights of Indigenous Peoples at risk.
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A Russian court on Monday sentenced a 72-year-old American in a closed trial to nearly seven years in prison for allegedly fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine.
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Ceremonies, events and protests are being held across Canada today to mark the anniversary of a Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.
Police say that they are investigating an apparent road rage incident in North York that may have involved gunfire.
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Palestinian militants in Gaza fired a barrage of rockets into Israel on Monday as mourners marked the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack, without disrupting a nearby ceremony.
Lawyers for a man who is also under investigation in the 2007 disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann called on Monday for him to be acquitted in his trial on charges of unrelated sexual offences.
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Ukraine鈥檚 military said it struck a major oil terminal Monday in Crimea that provides fuel for Russia鈥檚 war effort as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the war has entered a key phase.
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As millions in federal funding flow into a Labrador group whose claims of Inuit identity have been rejected by Indigenous organizations across Canada, a national Inuit leader worries the Liberal government is putting the rights of Indigenous Peoples at risk.
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A mother in a community where the cost of living is one of the highest in the country says grocery prices are 'inhumane' and retailers are putting profits ahead of people鈥檚 basic human right to food.
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