Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current
    • Published Ahead of Print
    • Archive
    • Supplemental Issues
    • Collections - French
    • Collections - English
  • Info for
    • Authors & Reviewers
    • Submit a Manuscript
    • Advertisers
    • Careers & Locums
    • Subscribers
    • Permissions
  • About CFP
    • About CFP
    • About the CFPC
    • Editorial Advisory Board
    • Terms of Use
    • Contact Us
  • Feedback
    • Feedback
    • Rapid Responses
    • Most Read
    • Most Cited
    • Email Alerts
  • Blogs
    • Latest Blogs
    • Blog Guidelines
    • Directives pour les blogues
  • Mainpro+ Credits
    • About Mainpro+
    • Member Login
    • Instructions
  • Other Publications
    • http://www.cfpc.ca/Canadianfamilyphysician/
    • https://www.cfpc.ca/Login/
    • Careers and Locums

User menu

  • My alerts

Search

  • Advanced search
The College of Family Physicians of Canada
  • Other Publications
    • http://www.cfpc.ca/Canadianfamilyphysician/
    • https://www.cfpc.ca/Login/
    • Careers and Locums
  • My alerts
The College of Family Physicians of Canada

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current
    • Published Ahead of Print
    • Archive
    • Supplemental Issues
    • Collections - French
    • Collections - English
  • Info for
    • Authors & Reviewers
    • Submit a Manuscript
    • Advertisers
    • Careers & Locums
    • Subscribers
    • Permissions
  • About CFP
    • About CFP
    • About the CFPC
    • Editorial Advisory Board
    • Terms of Use
    • Contact Us
  • Feedback
    • Feedback
    • Rapid Responses
    • Most Read
    • Most Cited
    • Email Alerts
  • Blogs
    • Latest Blogs
    • Blog Guidelines
    • Directives pour les blogues
  • Mainpro+ Credits
    • About Mainpro+
    • Member Login
    • Instructions
  • RSS feeds
  • Follow cfp Template on Twitter
LetterLetters

Decreasing our carbon and environmental footprint at conferences

Tomislav Svoboda and Kimberly Wintemute
Canadian Family Physician January 2020, 66 (1) 9-12;
Tomislav Svoboda
Toronto, Ont
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Kimberly Wintemute
Toronto, Ont
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • eLetters
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Thank you, Dr Ladouceur, for appealing to Canadian family physicians for strategies to fight climate change and preserve our planet in your November editorial, “Our fight against climate change.”1

One idea is for the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) and its provincial and territorial counterparts to demonstrate leadership at conferences, starting immediately. Serving predominantly plant-based meals, avoiding single-use plastics, and offering and accrediting telepresence at conferences could all be done routinely. This would substantially decrease our carbon and environmental footprint as a group of health professionals.2–4 These efforts could be publicized to set an example.

Regrettably, at the Wednesday lunch of the 2019 Family Medicine Forum in Vancouver, BC, in October, for every 3 rows of plant-based offerings, there were 10 rows of meat (roast beef or chicken). This is in line with neither Canada’s Food Guide5 nor the EAT-Lancet Commission.6 Thankfully, the packaging and utensils were mostly compostable. A large number of physicians flew across the country to attend the conference and it is unclear (after having inquired at the CFPC) whether there were options for participating remotely.

In line with our CanMEDS–Family Medicine roles of leadership and advocacy, the Canadian public should view family physicians as exemplars in matters of health. We call on the CFPC and its provincial and territorial chapters to immediately organize conferences to be consistent with current scientific evidence.

Footnotes

  • Competing interests

    None declared

  • Copyright© the College of Family Physicians of Canada

References

  1. 1.↵
    1. Ladouceur R
    . Our fight against climate change. Can Fam Physician 2019;65:766. (Eng), 767 (Fr).
    OpenUrlFREE Full Text
  2. 2.↵
    1. Coroama VC,
    2. Hilty LM,
    3. Birtel M
    . Effects of Internet-based multiple-site conferences on greenhouse gas emissions. Telemat Informat 2012;29(4):362-74.
    OpenUrl
  3. 3.
    1. Tilman D,
    2. Clark M
    . Global diets link environmental sustainability and human health. Nature 2014;515(7528):518-22. Epub 2014 Nov 12.
    OpenUrlCrossRefPubMed
  4. 4.↵
    1. Xanthos D,
    2. Walker TR
    . International policies to reduce plastic marine pollution from single-use plastics (plastic bags and microbeads): a review. Mar Pollut Bull 2017;118(1–2):17-26. Epub 2017 Feb 21.
    OpenUrl
  5. 5.↵
    1. Health Canada [website].
    Eat protein foods. Ottawa, ON: Government of Canada; 2019. Available from: https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/healthy-eating-recommendations/make-it-a-habit-to-eat-vegetables-fruit-whole-grains-and-protein-foods/eat-protein-foods/. Accessed 2019 Dec 6.
  6. 6.↵
    1. Willett W,
    2. Rockström J,
    3. Loken B,
    4. Springmann M,
    5. Lang T,
    6. Vermeulen S,
    7. et al
    . Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. Lancet 2019;393(10170):447-92. Epub 2019 Jan 16. Errata in: Lancet 2019;393(10171):530, Lancet 2019;393(10191):2590. Epub 2019 Jun 27.
    OpenUrlCrossRefPubMed
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Canadian Family Physician: 66 (1)
Canadian Family Physician
Vol. 66, Issue 1
1 Jan 2020
  • Table of Contents
  • About the Cover
  • Index by author
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on The College of Family Physicians of Canada.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Decreasing our carbon and environmental footprint at conferences
(Your Name) has sent you a message from The College of Family Physicians of Canada
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the The College of Family Physicians of Canada web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Decreasing our carbon and environmental footprint at conferences
Tomislav Svoboda, Kimberly Wintemute
Canadian Family Physician Jan 2020, 66 (1) 9-12;

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Respond to this article
Share
Decreasing our carbon and environmental footprint at conferences
Tomislav Svoboda, Kimberly Wintemute
Canadian Family Physician Jan 2020, 66 (1) 9-12;
Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Footnotes
    • References
  • Info & Metrics
  • eLetters
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Third year will erase rural medicine
  • Consult the members
  • Offer CME and accelerate licensing
Show more Letters

Similar Articles

Navigate

  • Home
  • Current Issue
  • Archive
  • Collections - English
  • Collections - Française

For Authors

  • Authors and Reviewers
  • Submit a Manuscript
  • Permissions
  • Terms of Use

General Information

  • About CFP
  • About the CFPC
  • Advertisers
  • Careers & Locums
  • Editorial Advisory Board
  • Subscribers

Journal Services

  • Email Alerts
  • Twitter
  • RSS Feeds

Copyright © 2023 by The College of Family Physicians of Canada

Powered by HighWire