Earth Day

While a commitment to human health and the environment is demonstrated at your facility or organization every day, Earth Day and Earth Week celebrations are recognized as the national time for education and celebration around that commitment. Earth Day Activities in hospitals and health care settings traditionally include tree planting, park clean up, lectures, farmer’s markets, fairs, departmental green competitions and more. The opportunities are as diverse as Practice Greenhealth membership organizations!

We invite you to share free Webinars on Climate Change and Public Health in celebration of Earth Day activities!

For Earth Day 2011, Practice Greenhealth and Health Care Without Harm hosted two free Climate Literacy webinars titled Climate Change and the Role of the Health Care Clinician: Education, Mitigation and Adaptation; one is intended for administrator use and one for clinical use. The webinars featured a new PowerPoint presentation, which focuses on the health effects of climate change and the role of the health care sector.

Both webinars have been recorded and are available for your use anytime. Share the recorded, fully streamed presentation, at your convenience as part of your Earth Day Activities.

• April 12 Climate Literacy Webinar (for Administrators)
• April 14 Climate Literacy Webinar (for Clinicians)
• OR download the Climate Literacy PowerPoint presentation for use in your own facility or at your next speaking engagement

Other Ideas to Celebrate and Promote Earth Day

• Consider presenting the Climate Literacy presentation at your facility during Grand Rounds, an Open House or other community educational event.
• Consider making the archived webinar available for use in waiting rooms, in staff break rooms, or at a Lunch n’ Learn event.
• Don’t forget evening, rotating, part-time and nighttime staff! Be sure to make these options available to everyone in your 24/7 operations.
• Download an Earth Day poster for your use.
• Consider implementing some of the mitigation strategies for operations outlined presentation, such as signing the Balanced Menus Challenge. Balanced Menus is a voluntary commitment by a healthcare institution to reduce their meat procurement by at least 20% within a 12-month period. The Challenge helps hospitals serve the healthiest food, benefit ecological health, and reduce costs. Click here for more information.

See what other hospitals are doing to celebrate Earth Day

• 2011 Practice Greenhealth Member Earth Day Activities
• 2010 Practice Greenhealth Member Earth Day Activities

Sample Earth Day Promotion Materials from other hospitals

• Cleveland Clinic Earth Day Expo Flyer
• Fairview Hospital a Cleveland Clinic Hospital Earth Day Flyer
• Huron Hospital a Cleveland Clinic Hospital Earth Day Flyer
• Inova Fairfax Earth Day Flyer
• Metro Health, Wyoming, MI, Community Clean Up Flyer
• Metro Health, Wyoming, MI, Going Green Flyer
• MetroWest, Natick, MA, Earth Day Flyer
• St. Mary’s Health System, Lewiston, ME, Earth Day Poster
• Washington Hospital, Fremont, CA, Earth Day Poster

Please let us know about your Earth Day activities

• Download a simple form to help Practice Greenhealth share your activities with the community through a press release and web presence.
• For more information please contact: Janet Brown, Director Sustainable Operations & Green Building, Practice Greenhealth at jbrown@practicegreenhealth.org.