COP26: join us
We’re attending COP26, the global climate change conference – and you can join us. Don’t miss our special event on 10 November, which you can register to watch via Zoom.
Our event, chaired by our President, Dr Adrian James, and run in conjunction with the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, is called ‘Why we must adapt now so we are resilient to the effects of climate change’.
Taking place at the World Health Organisation’s Health Pavilion at COP26, we will be asking the question: ‘What health emergencies will we see if we do nothing about the climate crisis?’
Access our live stream of the event and hear from three leading experts about the impact of the climate emergency on our health from air pollution to mental health and the effect on childhood. If we adapt now, we can be resilient to the challenges ahead.
Dr Lisa Page will also be a panellist at the Resilience Hub event. Her talk is titled 'We need to talk about mental health in a changing climate' and is on 9 November. The Resilience Hub is the joint initiative of the Institute of Global Health Innovation and the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London.
Our associate registrar on sustainability, Dr Jacob Krzanowski will also be a speaker at the Greener NHS event taking place at the WHO Pavilion on 3 November, speaking on the topic: 'International leadership group for a net zero NHS'.
What else we’re doing at COP26
Our team of College staff and members of the RCPsych Planetary Health and Sustainability Committee are at COP26 with ‘observer’ status. We’re hoping to learn more, share what we know, and influence others to take urgent action to protect the planet.
Our delegates will be working closely with the Greener NHS team and have a strong presence at their other events including the ‘Reimagining healthcare future lab’ to represent psychiatry.
If we see the opportunity we will be holding leaders to account by highlighting the impact of the climate crisis on mental health – and we’ll use Twitter and our other social media channels to report back on our activity.
So please watch out for that and re-share it with colleagues.
On the road to Glasgow
Dr Catriona Mellor is one of a group of paediatricians and psychiatrists taking part in Ride for their Lives, and cycling 500 miles from London to Glasgow.
Their goal is to communicate the seriousness of air pollution to fellow healthcare providers and the public, especially families with young children. Polluted air causes an estimated 7 million deaths annually, and shares the same root causes as the climate crisis.
The cyclists include staff from Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and Evelina Children's Hospital in London, Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, Sheffield Children's Hospital, the Great North Children's Hospital in Newcastle, and the Royal Hospital for Children Glasgow.
On the way to Glasgow, the group are stopping at children’s hospitals across the UK for events in Birmingham, Sheffield and Newcastle. Pollution Pods, an award-winning art installation dramatising the air quality crisis, will join the riders in all these cities.
New on Twitter: @RCPsychGreen
If you use Twitter, you can now follow our new @RCPsychGreen account for ongoing information about what the committee, and the College as a whole, is doing.
Back to our October 2021 eNewsletter.