Human Healthcare, Cargo Owners and the Ocean
“Anything else you’re interested in is not going to happen if you can’t breathe the air and drink the water. Don’t sit this one out. Do something. You are by accident of fate alive at an absolutely critical moment in the history of our planet.”
This quote by Carl Sagan has never been truer; the relationship between humans and our home is at a critical juncture; our last chance to change. We are now in the Anthropocene, a new geological era defined by the scars humans have left on the very fabric of this planet, our home. Since the 1950s (aka the Great Acceleration), many societies have placed growth, personal gain, and consumption at the heart of their culture leading to a triple crisis – climate, pollution, and the loss of natural systems.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is clear - climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health with a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all. The choices and actions implemented in this decade will have impacts now and for thousands of years. In simplest terms, we change, or billions will die because of historic errors of judgement and future inaction.
NHS England published Delivering a ‘Net Zero’ National Health Service in October 2020, a landmark moment and call to arms for those providing human healthcare; we now had a goal. There was however something niggling away in the back of my mind; something missing in many publications which I felt, if not included, would be catastrophic for people and planet. What was missing was: The Ocean.
The Ocean covers 71% earth’s surface, provides 99% of living space, absorbs 90% of the planet’s excess heat, at least 25% of our CO2 and produces over 50% of the oxygen we breathe. As an amateur ocean enthusiast, I knew the planet and its inhabitants couldn’t survive without healthy oceans and yet the seas, coasts and global Ocean are, like land and atmosphere, being challenged by all industries (including healthcare) through waste, pollution, and inattention to nature. I felt we urgently needed to extend “first, do no harm” to include planet, distant communities and the people we’ve never met.
Through carbon sequestration, billions of tonnes of photosynthesising ocean phytoplankton are “our greatest ally in combatting climate change” (David Attenborough, a Perfect Planet). We are however a species that lives on land and breathes the air; often failing to make the connection between our daily lives and the ocean. We fail to appreciate the ocean not only starts with every river, but also with every sink, toilet, and drain. Human health is inextricably linked to oceans and the use of the aquatic environment as a waste sink is associated with numerous adverse health impacts which must not be ignored by practitioners or policymakers.
In response to the challenges, Dr Georgie Sowman (GP and Office of Health Improvement and Disparities Physical Activity Clinical Champion, Northeast England), Professor Lora Fleming (Founder of the European Centre for Environment and Human Health and Chair of Oceans, Epidemiology and Human Health at the University of Exeter) and I formed Healthcare Ocean in October 2020. We felt this was the opportunity to drive change; the NHS was leading the global healthcare-sustainability agenda and it was also the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.
Our aim is to: “conserve and protect coastal and marine ecosystems through minimising harm resulting from the procurement and delivery of healthcare, whilst increasing awareness of the benefits to human health and wellbeing from healthy seas, coasts, and waterways.” We speak of the risks, urgency, what is at stake, and how the oceans are not a bottomless resource. We communicate it is ‘oceans AND us’, not ‘for us’ believing ‘we all cross the line together or none of us cross it at all’. We focus on communication, advocacy, and the development of actions deliverable by individuals, healthcare organisations and connected industries.
Breaking down barriers, engaging with stakeholders and finding the right language and touch points, whether people, planet, or the financial bottom line is critical. We think ‘beyond carbon’ (one pollutant of many), explaining why we are doing what we are doing to amplify our voices and inspire others. We place nature at the heart of strategies: to understand our footprint, help it recover from decades of mistreatment and re-examine our connection, ensuring initiatives benefit both humans and natural environments.
We believe healthy natural systems including oceans offer the planet and its inhabitants the best chance of surviving the climate and nature emergency. Our work streams are macro waste/plastics, chemical contamination, nature footprint/recovery/connection and global procurement/container shipping. Each of these areas require clear, deliverable actions and for healthcare-associated container shipping, one of these is for our suppliers to become a signatory of the Cargo Owners for Zero Emission Vessels (coZEV) ambition statement.
coZEV is a first-of-its-kind network created by climate-leading companies and the Aspen Institute Shipping Decarbonisation Initiative. It enables cargo owners to come together and use their brand power and economies of scale to decarbonize their own maritime transportation value chains and accelerate decarbonisation of the sector overall. Through coZEV, cargo owners can actively engage in the sector’s transition to zero emission fuels and technologies, influencing a transition that can either be smooth and affordable or costly and disruptive.
Signing the coZEV ambition statement is part of the NHS England’s Evergreen Framework which helps suppliers demonstrate engagement with the NHS on their sustainability journey, aligning with net zero and other sustainability ambitions. The NHS cannot get to net zero without net zero ships and with healthcare’s support, the change to cleaner marine fuels used in the delivery of healthcare supplies can be accelerated. It is likely that where healthcare leads, other industries will follow.
The call to action is: visit www.cozev.org, discuss becoming a signatory with your sustainability group and company board, reach out to The Aspen Institute via their website or directly through Meera Kallupura (Meera.Kallupura@aspeninstitute.org). Signing coZEV is the right thing to do, is viewed as important by NHS England and can provide assurance to your own organisation you are acting in this difficult to tackle area. Through coZEV, cargo owners can amplify their voices so please become a part of this initiative and help drive positive global change.