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https://www.infirmiere-canadienne.com/blogs/ic-contenu/2025/04/22/promouvoir-la-sante-planetaire

4 ways that nurses can reduce greenhouse gas emissions

By Agnes T. Black and Kaitlin Bloemberg
April 22, 2025

Editor’s note: Today is Earth Day! Earth Day Canada continues to roll out environmental programs and projects with proven positive impacts in areas such as waste management, food waste and sustainable mobility.

What exactly is planetary health? How can we, as nurses, work to promote the health of the planet and the people on it? In a recent statement, the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) and the Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment (CANE) called on nurses to respond to the climate emergency by integrating planetary health into all domains of nursing practice: education, research, advocacy and policy. The CNA/CANE statement notes that “[t]he health and well-being of the planet that supports the thriving of all life must be seen as a key determinant of health and therefore of top priority to nurses” (CNA, 2024, p. 1).

In a previous article, we described ways that climate change, and the extreme events caused by climate change, impacts nurses, health-care systems and patients. In this article, we focus on mitigation — actions taken to address planetary health by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We suggest four ways that nurses can promote planetary health through the following mitigation actions, all of which must be grounded in collaboration with Indigenous leaders: (1) finding like-minded people, (2) practising planetary health promotion, (3) advocating for ending reliance on fossil fuels and (4) planting trees. The actions not only benefit nurses and their patients but also their communities and society at large.

What is planetary health?

The CNA/CANE statement notes, “Planetary health offers new understandings…regarding our relationship with the natural world and the importance of protecting and preserving nature for the health of future generations” (CNA, 2024, p. 2). Another definition of planetary health outlines it as “a solutions-oriented, transdisciplinary field and social movement focused on analyzing and addressing the impacts of destabilized natural systems on human health and all life on Earth” (Planetary Health Alliance, 2024). Three prominent scholars in the field, meanwhile, state that “[p]lanetary health considers the health of humans everywhere on Earth while also considering the natural systems that coexist alongside them” (Kalogirou, Olson, & Davidson, 2020, p. 6).

All of our efforts to address planetary health must centre around engagement and collaboration with Indigenous groups and leaders, based on guidance from the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which states that “respect for indigenous knowledge, cultures and traditional practices contributes to sustainable and equitable development and proper management of the environment” (United Nations, 2007, p. 4). This does not in any way mean that we are shifting the responsibility for climate action to Indigenous colleagues but rather that we take action guided by respect for Indigenous practices and wisdom on planetary health.

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Extreme heat, fire, and flooding: how climate change can impact your patients

Indigenous peoples have stewarded the lands we call “Canada” for thousands of years. A group of Indigenous leaders and scholars recently published a paper that defines planetary health from an Indigenous perspective, describing traditional knowledges that offer “collective, holistic, community-based, land-informed ways of knowing that are inherently interconnected with people and the environment” (Redvers et al., 2022, p. e156). These can guide the ways we approach and develop climate mitigation and adaptation strategies. Indigenous ways of being are intricately connected with the well-being of the Earth, contrasting Western ideas of human-centric hierarchies, and are “integral to the health and sustainability of the planet, Mother Earth” (Redvers et al., 2022, p. e156).Wherever you live or practise nursing across Canada and beyond, seek out Indigenous groups and leaders in both your workplace and larger community to join them in their work to promote planetary health.

• Find like-minded people. Across Canada, thousands of nurses and health-care professionals are involved in planetary health. Many health-care organizations in Canada have “green teams” who collaborate to tackle issues of environmental sustainability and help organizations meet greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. You can join the green team at your workplace or start one! Multiple benefits from working on green teams include cost savings, employee satisfaction, improved quality and safety and community improvement (Practice Green Health, 2006). Groups such as CANE welcome all nurses’ participation and offer an abundance of ideas for action.
• Practise planetary health promotion. Talk with patients, colleagues and family about the planetary and individual health benefits of eating a plant-rich diet and using active transportation as much as possible. Eating meat-free one day a week is equivalent to not driving your car for one month (CASCADES, 2023).
• Advocate for ending reliance on fossil fuels. Climate change is caused by the extraction and burning of fossil fuels, and every step we take to move our homes and health-care settings toward renewable and clean sources of power is important. This might include converting your home to an electric heat pump to provide more efficient heat as well as air conditioning and air filtration, while also reducing your carbon footprint by relying less on fossil fuels. Numerous government subsidies exist across Canada to support homeowners in converting to electric and solar power. You could discuss with your facilities management how to convert your health-care setting to more efficient, clean energy sources, such as solar and electric. Converting your home cookstove to electric induction can reduce asthma risk and greenhouse gas emissions.
• Plant trees! How can trees benefit people? In addition to producing oxygen, removing CO2 from the atmosphere and providing shade and wildlife habitat, trees have important health benefits to patients. Although gauging the benefits of being with or near trees and the outdoors is challenging, some researchers, including Peter James, have dedicated their careers to the study of trees and human health. Dr. James notes that trees’ effects on us “translate into long-term changes in the incidence of depression, anxiety, cognitive decline, and chronic diseases, including cardiovascular diseases and cancer” (Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, 2023, p. 1). Urban nature, such as parks and walkways, provides calming and inspiring environments and encourages learning, curiosity and alertness. Morita et al. (2007) found that “forest environments are advantageous with respect to acute emotions, especially among those experiencing chronic stress…and forest environments can be viewed as therapeutic landscapes” (2007, p. 54).  Zheng, He, Guldmann, Xu, and Liu (2023) found that trees cool and humidify the environment, and their canopy attenuates solar radiation and improves physical comfort for individuals and families in a warming climate.

Benefits of taking action

Taking action to promote planetary health is a natural extension of nursing practice. Benefits can include enhanced learning about traditional Indigenous approaches to planetary health; growing a network of colleagues who share your concerns about climate change; improved health for you, your community and your patients; improved air quality; and more! When nurses work for planetary health, they reduce harms to both current and future generations.

Acknowledgements: We are grateful for support and editing assistance in writing this article from Zachary Daly, Caroline Murphy and Megan Tomlinson.

References

Canadian Nurses Association. (2024). Planetary health. [Position Statement]. Retrieved from https://hl-prod-ca-oc-download.s3-ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/CNA/2f975e7e-4a40-45ca-863c-5ebf0a138d5e/UploadedImages/documents/policy-advocacy/CNA-Planetary-Health-position-statement_E.pdf

CASCADES. (2023). Planetary health for primary care. Retrieved from https://view.publitas.com/5231e51e-4654-42c2-accd-b722e21f3093/primary-care-toolkit_en/page/1

Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. (2023). The health benefits of trees. Retrieved from https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/the-health-benefits-of-trees

Kalogirou, M. R., Olson, J., & Davidson, S. (2020). Nursing’s metaparadigm, climate change and planetary health. Nursing Inquiry, 27(3), e12356. doi:10.1111/nin.12356

Morita, E., Fukuda, S., Nagano, J., Hamajima, N., Yamamoto, H., Iwai, Y., Nakashima, T., Oh, H., & Shirakawa, T. (2007). Psychological effects of forest environments on healthy adults: Shinrin-yoku (forest-air bathing, walking) as a possible method of stress reduction. Public Health 121(1). 54-63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2006.05.024

Planetary Health Alliance. (2024). What is planetary health? Retrieved from https://www.planetaryhealthalliance.org/planetary-health

Practice Green Health. (2006). A guide for creating effective green teams in health care. Retrieved from https://practicegreenhealth.org/sites/default/files/pubs/epp/GuideGreenTeams.pdf.

Redvers, N., Celidwen, Y., Schultz, C., Horn, O., Githaiga, C., Vera, M., ... Blondin, B. (2022). The determinants of planetary health: An Indigenous consensus perspective. The Lancet Planetary Health, 6(2), e156–e163.

United Nations. (2007). United Nations declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf

Zheng, S., He, C., Guldmann, J.-M., Xu, H., & Liu, X. (2023). Heat mitigation benefits of urban trees: A review of mechanisms, modeling, validation and simulation. Forests, 14(12), 2280. doi:10.3390/f14122280

Agnes T. Black, RN, MPH, is a board member of the Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment and an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia.

Kaitlin Bloemberg works in palliative care as a registered nurse and studied the impacts of extreme heat events during her MSN studies at the UBC School of Nursing.

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