Friday, 17th January 2025
Doors and complementary stew served 17:30 – event 18:00-20:00
The Stove Cafe, High Street, Dumfries DG1 2BJ
Happy New Year! January is often a time of making promises to get and stay healthier, especially when there’s so much flu about and it’s so difficult to get a GP appointment sometimes. But how easy is it to change the habits of a lifetime? How can we make this year a success? And what has all this got to do with climate change?
Healthcare is responsible for 4-5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, meaning if healthcare was a country, it would be the fifth biggest emitter on the planet. We can’t live without healthcare, but some elements of healthcare are more resource-intensive, more wasteful, and less valuable to health than others. Climate change is also a driver of poor health, through mechanisms such as air pollution, extreme weather, and disruption to utilities and supply chains for essential medicines. How can the NHS level it’s contribution to the climate emergency with its’ stated purpose to provide healthcare to all?
How could we reimagine healthcare, both from an individual patient’s point of view, and as an organisation the size of the NHS? What would that mean for society? Finally, what are NHS Scotland’s Net Zero new year’s resolutions, and how can they stick to them?
Featuring speakers from NHS Dumfries & Galloway, this January we’ll be discussing and debating the role of healthcare in the cause of, and response to, the climate crisis. We’ll be looking at how we can use behaviour change theory to stick to our new year’s resolutions, be they health-related, environmental activism-focussed, or otherwise.