We need to make critical interventions at all system levels. We need a policy agenda shaped by a lens of health. We need improved policy and regulation in environments where exposures are present or suspected; adoption of the precautionary principle; and future planning and policy to protect community members in their living and working environments. The key to this is recognizing the nestedness of environmental and climate change risks from micro to macro levels and the interconnectedness of the relationships in socially based health risk factors. Systemic changes with the public’s protection are fundamental to preventing ill health and addressing climate change impacts.

We must do the work now to create a future where we won’t have to surrender health to health risks originating in our communities. We must implement the precautionary principle, which states that “ when an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically…The precautionary principle is meant to represent the public good in all decisions…policy decisions should be made to err on the side of caution with respect to the environment and the health of the public”

(Kriebel et al., 2001). The knowledge that connects the dots between decarbonizing and disease prevention is critical in considering the potential health and climate impacts of the new acute hospital location, developing Sandwich South, and all future land use, transportation and climate action plans.

The Canadian Environmental Protection Act and other environmental rules are disease prevention policies. We need to make concerted choices about transportation, public transit systems, product manufacturing, jobs and just transitions for workers and address environmentally-sensitive restructuring of how we live, work, travel, and play. We need the political will and those with the power to implement, enforce and extend policies that prevent disease and ill health.

Biologist Dr. Elizabeth Sawin says: “Not taking the climate protection opportunity into account when investing in economic recovery is making the choice to lock-in carbon pollution. It’s not an oversight. It’s as simple as a missed opportunity. It’s an active recommitment to harm.”

Why is Windsor’s municipal leadership so eager to develop Sandwich South? Given the existing data on health, economics and climate change, it does not make sense. I support updating our hospitals and health care systems. Still, these need to be where people already live, work, and play to ensure that precautionary health-protective measures and climate change science are recognized.

A socio-ecological approach that addresses systemic, multi-level strategies needed for individual, population and environmental health would transform the health of our community and the environment.

Sincerely,

Jane E. McArthur
(she/her)
Ph.D. Candidate Sociology/Social Justice
University of Windsor

SSHRC Doctoral Fellow

Investigating Women's Narratives of Breast Cancer Risks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBjy6IUxuXs&feature=youtu.be