This dynamic session explores Salt Lake City basin's deep challenges with poor air quality and the realities of a changing climate. Moderated by leaders from the area's premier health care systems, this plenary features insights from a panel of leaders at the forefront of public and environmental health and community advocacy. They share how they are addressing these challenges, what they see as critical issues in the coming years, and how they can partner with health care to improve environmental sustainability, address environmental injustices, and promote health equity.

Climate change is the number one threat to public health, and research shows that climate anxiety and trauma are on the rise. The work of Dr. Britt Wray, an eco-anxiety expert from Stanford University, on the psychological toll of climate change reveals a surprising truth – that embracing climate distress can help solve both mental health and ecological challenges. Wray will explore how today's ecological crises can push us into a state of grief, numbness, or fatalism.

Clinical care is a driving factor of health care emissions and pollution. As the largest percentage of a hospital's workforce, it is critical to engage, educate, and empower clinicians to lead change. Health care organizations gain many benefits from positioning a health professional in a leadership role within their sustainability governance structure.

Food should feed people, not landfills. Food waste not only contributes to climate change, but is a missed opportunity for addressing food insecurity in our communities.

Learn from Practice Greenhealth partners about the creative and comprehensive approaches they have used to reduce wasted food, and how doing so has saved money, reduced their climate impact, and supported hunger relief in their communities.

Join our expert Keith Edgerton for quick, digestible advice on calculating a complete greenhouse gas inventory. Bring your questions to this 75-minute real-time solutions forum and get ready to learn new tips and tricks from other Practice Greenhealth partners. No matter where you are on your journey, these sessions are for you. This month will focus on Scope 3 categories 5 (waste generated in operations), 8 (upstream leased assets), 11 (use of sold products), 13 (downstream leased assets), and 15 (investments).

Once a quarter, we'll feature affiliate premium partners as part of a 60-minute interactive session with breakouts to introduce, share, and spark conversation with the Practice Greenhealth network at large. We encourage and invite all Practice Greenhealth partners - hospital and health system partners, and affiliate, allied, and academic partners, to attend this quarterly event to learn more about you - our affiliate premium partners.

Last year, Practice Greenhealth and Health Care Without Harm guided hundreds of hospitals and health systems across the United States to write climate resilience plans in alignment with the HHS Health Sector Climate Pledge. This session will provide a brief overview of the HHS Pledge and summarize key lessons to help you through each stage of a resilience planning process. Planners from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Seattle Children’s will share takeaways from their climate resilience planning processes and perspectives on the value and the future of their plans.

View this session to gain a better understanding of how purchasing occurs at health systems and strategies for effectively engaging supply chain departments. Then hear from Vancouver Coastal Health about their Reusables First project – an effort to prioritize the purchase of reusable or reprocessable products over single-use ones to minimize waste and reduce environmental impact – which they carried out in close partnership with their supply chain.