CALLING ALL ONEIG MEMBERS!!!
Do you care about the environment?
Do you see the connection between a healthy climate and good health outcomes?
Nurses have consistently been ranked as one of the top, if not the top, most trusted profession. Therefore, YOUR VOICE MATTERS!!!
If we want to take meaningful climate action in our communities, our work settings and our health system, we must USE OUR VOICES!!!
ONEIG is launching three new working groups where you can take climate action as a powerful, collected voice. We are all busy nurses and understand that you have time and life constraints. Joining a working group does NOT commit you to work. If joining an email list and chipping in when you can is all you can do, this is your place! If you want to take a more active role in the group this is also your place!
Please read through the three different groups and email oneigrnao@gmail.com to join the group that you are most interested in. There will be an ONEIG member leading the group and an RNAO Home Office staff member in an advisory/liaison role.
OPTION 1: Greening the Workplace Working Group
This group intends to take climate action at the micro level within your workplace. Working together, you can come up with solutions that fit your specific workplace, share ideas and implement resources that are already available. If you want to see practical changes implemented in your workplace - this is the group for you!
OPTION 2: Sustainable / Net Zero Procurement Campaign
Many nurses come to work and check their environmental conscience at the door. There is just so much waste - dressing changes, single-use autoinjectors, OR equipment - the list goes on. Most ends-up in a landfill or incinerated. Medications, equipment and supply chain account for about 2/3's of healthcare greenhouse gas emissions. At the bedside, we have very little control, but this campaign aims to change the products that you work with at the Health Canada, Accreditation Canada, manufacturer and institutional procurement levels. If you want to make big changes happen - this is the group for you!
OPTION 3: Gas Plants Working Group
Gas plant power generation proposals keep popping-up in municipalities all over the province. Decreased local air quality, increased systemic reliance on fossil fuels and irreparable impacts to our climate are all at risk. Health is one of the strongest arguments used to defeat these proposals. If you want to use your voice to oppose these plants in your community or help coordinate and empower nurses to use their voices in defence of their communities - this is the group for you.
Additionally - Green nursing practice,
RNAO sets the global standard in nursing best practices. The best practice guidelines (BGP) are evidence-based on health outcomes. In order to green nursing practice globally, we need our BPG's to reflect best possible health outcomes and the lowest climate impact possible. RNAO has a very rigorous process in writing and editing these. If you would like to become a climate lens BPG stakeholder reviewer - we can put you in touch with the BPG development team.
Hope to talk more with you soon,
ONEIG Exec Team