21st Century

Health Care

is Planetary

Health Care

because people can’t be healthy on a sick planet!

Doctor AIR Care examines the planet, which is not sounding too healthy these days . . .

Climate-health activism is hard work, but it’s definitely not boring. The perfect beat for a chronically-retiring pediatrician!!

Climate change is affecting everything we care about, including our physical and mental health and safety.

What could be more fulfilling than supporting the climate activism of a former tiny patient, all grown up into an amazing young woman??

The KidsClimateDoc BLOG

That Heat Dome Could have Killed my Granny
Elaine Blacklock Elaine Blacklock

That Heat Dome Could have Killed my Granny

Granny Blacklock knew how to keep cool . . . Summer after summer for close to 92 years, she survived the Okanagan heat. I wonder if she would have survived the heat dome.

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The Unhealthy Tip of the Climate Change Iceberg
Elaine Blacklock Elaine Blacklock

The Unhealthy Tip of the Climate Change Iceberg

We who live in 2021 are faced with a metaphoric iceberg of our own, and one of gargantuan proportions. This iceberg (yes, it’s a melting one) is a human creation called climate change, and we’re steaming straight towards it at full speed.

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Active Transportation: Good for You, Good for the Planet
Elaine Blacklock Elaine Blacklock

Active Transportation: Good for You, Good for the Planet

We think of exercise as something we squeeze into our lives (or not) in the form of workouts; meanwhile, when we need to go somewhere, we'll probably take the SUV. Why is this? Are we just lazy? Do we no longer have legs?

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Put a Price on Carbon Pollution; It’s Good for our Health!
Elaine Blacklock Elaine Blacklock

Put a Price on Carbon Pollution; It’s Good for our Health!

In days gone by, we humans made our messes, and expected the planet to mop them up. But we’ve multiplied to almost 8 billion people, and the Earth can no longer absorb our impact. Collectively, we’re rapidly wrecking the place, crossing one planetary boundary after another.

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Not on the Peds Conference Agenda: The State of the Planet
Elaine Blacklock Elaine Blacklock

Not on the Peds Conference Agenda: The State of the Planet

The pediatric conference had record attendance this year . . . And yet, in three and a half days, there wasn’t a single mention of the other looming health threat of the 21st century: climate change and the critical state of the planet’s health.

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Operating rooms have big carbon footprints too!
Elaine Blacklock Elaine Blacklock

Operating rooms have big carbon footprints too!

Help. Health. Healing. That’s what health care systems are supposed to be about. So it’s something of an oxymoron that a system intended for health is harming the health of the planet . . .

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There’s no safe limit when it comes to air pollution
Elaine Blacklock Elaine Blacklock

There’s no safe limit when it comes to air pollution

Sudburnians are all too familiar with the killing power of air pollution. Sulphur dioxide (SO2) and other toxic emissions from industry and mining killed our lakes and forests and stripped our landscape down to bare black rock . . .

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