6 Call to Hospitals to Address Climate Change – Madison Miner

Call to Hospitals to Address Climate Change

Climate change is a growing problem and ironically, 4.6% of the world’s carbon emissions are from the healthcare sector (Commonwealth fund, 2022). Hospitals contribute 36% of that (Commonwealth fund, 2022). These carbon emissions are going into the atmosphere and creating a sort of greenhouse which is insulating the planet, which over time has gotten thicker and thicker causing Earth to warm. Climate change is the change in Earth’s temperature lasting a long period of time. The environment is warming which is causing many problems. The ice caps are melting which is causing the animals who live on them to have no place to live because their home has melted. The ice melting also causes the water levels to rise which can flood coastal cities and islands.  The weather patterns are changing which can cause more hurricanes, tornados, floods, and droughts. Another problem with the melting ice caps is certain microorganisms frozen in the ice are being released as the ice melts which can cause disease for people and for animals (Boren, 2020). These are just some of the problems that come with climate change. We need to do something about it but many places have not made the changes that are necessary. Ironically, hospitals, the place that is supposed to save lives, are contributing to the global crisis, climate change, along with health problems relating to climate change. When in a hospital, the lights seem to always be on everywhere, and there may not be any windows that can bring natural light in. So, they tend to use a lot of electricity. Electricity that comes from fossil fuels, natural gas, and coal. This burning of fossil fuels produces greenhouse gasses which cause climate change. This means that there must be a lot of burning of fossil fuels. The waste that hospitals produce also gets thrown out or incinerated which produces greenhouse gasses. The waste from hospitals such as one-time-use cups, gloves, and plastic bags, require the burning of fossil fuels to produce. This wastes nonrenewable resources. The landfills are also being filled with the waste produced by hospitals. This takes up land and many times required cutting down trees to make more space. Hospitals need to make a change in their everyday activities to reduce their impact on the Earth and its inhabitants, creating problems using high amounts of energy and producing lots of waste. They can reduce their contribution to climate change using wind and solar energy and reducing their waste.

Undoubtedly, there will always be arguments against ideas. People may say that it would cost too much for hospitals to make changes to help decrease their carbon emissions. The cost for hospitals to make the necessary changes may be astronomical. Hospitals may also have to close to convert their buildings to be more sustainable. They cannot afford to close for an unknown amount of time. How would hospitals close anyway? They would have to get rid of all of their patients during that time, and staff would be sent home so they would lose money too. Staff won’t fight for this change if they will be laid off during the conversion time. Another thing that may be keeping hospitals from converting to sustainable options is the contracts that they have with their vendors. Hospitals have contracts with vendors for the supplies that they use a lot of. So, if they have a contract with a company that supplies their nitrile gloves, they cannot break that contract to go with a more sustainable option.

The first problem that hospitals cause is contributing to climate change through their greenhouse gas emissions. As earlier stated, hospitals produce 4.6% of the world’s carbon emissions (Commonwealth fund, 2022). Healthcare has been added to the group of industries which have high levels of carbon emissions making them part of the “heavy emitting sector” (Gan, Banwell, Pascual, Chu, Wang, 2019). This means they are part of the same sector that transportation and factories belong to. According to Healthcare without Harm and ARUP, “Emissions emanating directly from health care facilities and health care owned vehicles (Scope 1) make up 17% of the sector’s worldwide footprint. Indirect emissions from purchased energy sources such as electricity, steam, cooling, and heating (Scope 2) comprise another 12%.” (Karliner, Slotterback, Boyd, Ashby, Steele, 2019, p. 5). Hospitals and healthcare facilities produce 12 percent of their total emissions from their energy sources. These energy sources are producing great amounts of greenhouse gasses which are contributing to climate change. The chart attached (Appendix) shows the different scopes of greenhouse gas emissions for the healthcare sector. Scope three according to Eckelman, contributes 82%, scope 2 contributes 11% and scope 1 contributes 7% in 2018. The chart gives a breakdown of what each scope consists of, for example scope one consists of direct emissions from healthcare facilities. 7% does not seem like much, but if that number could be reduced to 3 or 4%, that could greatly reduce hospitals’ carbon footprint.

The second problem is hospitals produce more than 5 million tons of waste per year (Budd, 2019). When plastic is thrown away, as it decomposes, it releases methane. In research from a previous project, it was found that as plastics decompose in landfills or littered into waterways, after as little as one day methane was produced. Methane is in smaller quantities than carbon dioxide. Greenhouse gasses according to Drew T. Shindell in 2009 consisted of; 43.1% carbon dioxide, 26.7% methane, 11.9% black carbon, 7.8% halocarbons, 6,7% CO and VOCs, and 3.8% nitrous oxide (Science, 2009). Although methane is in smaller amounts, it is much worse than carbon dioxide. Hospitals produce a large amount of plastic waste because it cannot be reused because hospitals have to worry about sterility. Nitrile gloves are either thrown away which as they decompose produces methane and carbon dioxide, or they are incinerated which releases very large amounts of carbon dioxide. Hospitals keep wire bins with plastic bags in them which are filled with dirty linens from the beds. These bags are then taken down to laundry where the linens are washed. The hospitals go through many of these bags between all of their rooms. The cafeteria also produces lots of waste by giving guests and patients styrofoam or plastic cups to drink from and throw away containers rather than dishes that can be washed. These gloves, bags, styrofoam and plastic cups, and throw away containers, use nonrenewable materials to make. Fossil fuels are burned to make the materials that make these one-time use objects. This is a waste of nonrenewable materials. Besides the waste of these materials we can never get back, the landfills are being filled. Most of the waste that hospitals produce end up in landfills. As the waste fills up the landfills, this takes up more space where trees could be planted. To make more space for landfills, many times trees are cut down. Trees use carbon dioxide and they release oxygen. The carbon dioxide that we produce from running hospitals cannot be reduced by trees if we cut the trees down to make space for the waste that hospitals are producing. The world is being filled with garbage in landfills, which is land that can be used for other things, such as parks and forests. As the waste decomposes in the landfills, it produces methane which is released into the atmosphere. With all of this in mind, hospitals need to make a change to fight for the reduction of climate change.

The first solution to reducing climate change is hospitals can use renewable energy such as wind and solar power. Using wind and solar power can reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses produced by the burning of fossil fuels for energy. Hospitals can use wind turbines or solar panels to get the energy they need to run 24/7/365. Hospitals pay on average $72,300 per month in electricity. Using a breakdown provided by Consumer Affairs, in Indiana, per watt of electricity, solar panels cost $2.49. If a hospital is running its electricity for 24 hours a day for 30 days and they use on average 8,073 watts in that time, the cost of the solar panels would only be $20,102. Compared to the $72,300 they pay for electricity, this may seem enticing for hospital owners. The upfront cost for solar panels may cost more than a hospital’s monthly payment, but in the long run, this will save them money. Not only does solar energy cost less than the burning of fossil fuels for energy, it is also much better for the environment. Solar panels do not release the harmful greenhouse gasses that burning fossil fuels does. A hospital in Spain has already implemented solar thermal energy into their electricity to run (Sánchez-Barroso, G., González-Domínguez, J., & García-Sanz-Calcedo, J., 2020). They use this solar thermal energy to create domestic hot water. This water is used for many things in hospitals. This saves money, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by using solar energy rather than burning fossil fuels. The other renewable energy that hospitals can use is wind power. As the turbines spin, they create energy which is converted into electricity that can be used by hospitals. In Indiana there are already some wind farms that are used to power buildings. Hospitals can use these and create energy that does not require the burning of fossil fuels.

The second solution to reducing climate change is hospitals can reduce their waste. There are health codes that hospitals have to follow, but there is so much unnecessary waste in hospitals. Starting with the gloves used in hospitals. The gloves that are used can be reduced by combining everything they have to do per round into one trip. If a nurse has to do 3 things for one patient per round, they can bring all of the materials into the room at once rather than doing one task, then leaving the room and removing the gloves to get other materials then using another pair of gloves for the next task, and so on. This could help reduce the number of gloves used. Another thing that produces waste is the soiled linen bins. There are bags in wire holders in each room where the used linens go. If that bag was replaced with a canvas bag or just a bin, the waste of bags could be reduced. Towels and spray could be used to clean the materials rather than wipes with harmful chemicals that will end up in landfills. Lastly, recycling could be used to prevent the plastics from going into landfills and producing methane. The throw-away containers and cups can be replaced with dishes that can be washed and reused. Many hospitals use styrofoam cups for their residents to drink from, which are thrown away and end up in landfills. These can be replaced with reusable plastic cups that can be washed and reused. Their throw-away plastic containers in the cafeteria can be replaced with dishes that can be washed and reused. After interviewing a nurse, she stated that the operating rooms at St. Mary’s Hospital in Hobart Indiana have recycling bins for plastic operating tools. They cannot be reused, so they can be recycled to make new tools. All of these are great options to reduce the amount of waste that hospitals produce and therefore, reducing the landfill size and reducing the amount of methane produced from the plastic waste in landfills.

Communication is also necessary when making a change. Signage can be used in the hospital to help reduce the waste that guests produce. Recycling bins can be clearly labeled so that the plastic and aluminum can be recycled there and turned into new things. Guests can also be encouraged to bring their own cups with water or bring the residents of the hospital reusable cups so that they do not have to use the styrofoam or plastic cups provided. The guests can also be told about the solar energy used in the hospital, and they could spread the word to other businesses to make the same changes. Hospitals put billboards up about their care all the time, they could put billboards up explaining their changes to help reduce climate change. This may give them more business, because people want to support what is good for the environment and the health of everyone. Owners and managers can communicate to their employees to follow guidelines that help reduce waste and therefore reduce their carbon footprint. After some time the hospitals can track how much they have reduced their carbon footprint. This can then be communicated to the public and to other hospitals so that other hospitals can see that making these small changes pay off and make a difference in the end. Communication is a necessary component of making any changes.

Climate change is a serious and dangerous issue that hospitals have the availability to reduce. They are there to save people’s lives, but they produce so many greenhouse gasses and so much waste that they are causing problems for not only the environment, but also the health of the people that they are supposed to save. Hospitals can reduce their “heavy-emitting” tag to being not a problem anymore. They can reduce their 4.6% carbon emissions to below that significantly. They produce many greenhouse gasses from their electricity only. Spend thousands of dollars on their electricity bills. They also produce 5 million tons of waste which breaks down and releases methane, a dangerous compound which is toxic to humans. Their waste fills landfills which take up so much space, trees are cut down to make more space for them. Solar and wind energy could be used to replace the burning of fossil fuels. This will reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses released into the atmosphere along with saving hospitals thousands of dollars. Recycling can be used to prevent plastics from ending up in landfills. Condensing the tasks for one patient to one trip can reduce the number of gloves used. Using reusable bags can eliminate plastic soiled linen bags from being used at all. The good that making these changes causes definitely outweighs the argument against hospitals reducing climate change as earlier explained. All of these are options to reduce the detrimental amounts of greenhouse gasses going into the atmosphere from hospitals.

Appendix

How the U.S. HealthCare System contributes to climate change. Commonwealth Fund. (2022, April 19). Retrieved November 3, 2022, from https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/explainer/2022/apr/how-us-health-care-system-contributes-climate-change

Graph shows the percentages of each scope of greenhouse gas emissions in 2018. It explains what each scope consists of and the percentages of each.

References:

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Armand, W., & Slutzman, J. E. (2022). Communication strategies targeting climate change action at a large academic medical center. The Journal of Climate Change and Health, 7. https://doi-org.proxyeast.uits.iu.edu/10.1016/j.joclim.2022.100180

Boren, Z. (30 May 2022), “Scientists Fear Ancient Diseases Could Be Released by the Melting Arctic.” Unearthed, https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2020/07/03/arctic-permafrost-pandemic-life-uh-finds-a-way/.

Budd, Ken, and Special to AAMCNews.(15 Oct. 2019),  “Hospitals Race to Save Patients – and the Planet.” AAMC, https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/hospitals-race-save-patients-and-planet.

Gan, C. C. R., Banwell, N., Pascual, R. S., Chu, C., & Wang, Y. W. (2019). Hospital climate actions and assessment tools: a scoping review protocol. BMJ Open, 9(12), e032561. https://doi-org.proxyeast.uits.iu.edu/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-032561

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How the U.S. HealthCare System contributes to climate change. Commonwealth Fund. (2022, April 19). Retrieved November 3, 2022, from https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/explainer/2022/apr/how-us-health-care-system-contributes-climate-change

Jablow, M. M., (28 Nov. 2016), “Teaching Hospitals Go Green.” AAMC, https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/teaching-hospitals-go-green.

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Sánchez-Barroso, G., González-Domínguez, J., & García-Sanz-Calcedo, J. (2020). Potential Savings in DHW Facilities through the Use of Solar Thermal Energy in the Hospitals of Extremadura (Spain). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(8). https://doi-org.proxyeast.uits.iu.edu/10.3390/ijerph17082658

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