MEDIA STATEMENT
26 September 2019

Members of OraTaiao: NZ Climate and Health Council will join climate events around the country this Friday, 27 September, and are issuing a symbolic medical certificate, as part of the global strikes for climate movement.

“We are taking to the streets tomorrow to show our solidarity with striking students, because to avert the climate crisis requires collective action. As health workers we see it as our professional duty to urge leaders to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Dr Rhys Jones, Co-convenor of OraTaiao.

Friday 27 September 2019, NZ and globally

OraTaiao is supporting the student led global climate strike calling for bold action on climate change. See our media statement 'Health professionals urge collective action to avert climate crisis'.

OraTaiao members will be under the OraTaiao banner at events in Auckland, Dunedin, Wellington, Christchurch and Rotorua. Members will also be on the streets in Hawkes Bay, Nelson and Palmerston North. Look for the OraTaiao banner or placards and join other health professionals at these times and places:

Auckland - Aotea Square, 12pm
Christchurch - Cathedral Square, 1pm
Dunedin - Dunedin Dental School, 12pm
Rotorua - Village Green, 2pm
Wellington - Civic Square, 11am
Other centres here

Help spread the word by sharing this page on social media and printing out a poster to put up at work:

• Poster with main centre information (A4 size)
• Poster with space for your own information (A4 size)
• Placard for the event (A4 size)
• Medical certificate
• If you are working on 27 September see here for resources to share and actions you can take at work. 
• Follow us on Facebook or Twitter and share our posts.

Watch a video here with Greta Thunberg, the teenager who started the School Strike for Climate movement. Watch a video with Jonathan Patz 'Climate Change is Affecting our Health'.  

Feature article by Bruce Tsai, Kendall Robertson and Susanna Lees Watts. NZMJ Digest Issue 91. Read here. 

Article on the benefits of a sustainable diet and why we need a strong Zero Carbon Bill with quotes from Dr Alexandra Macmillan, OraTaiao Co-convenor.

Read here.

Interview here with Co-convenor, Dr Alexandra Macmillan, on the need for well designed climate policy.

Interview with Co-convenor, Dr Alexandra Macmillan, about why healthcare workers are demanding stronger action on climate change. Read more here.

MEDIA RELEASE
29 August 2019

This morning at Environment Select Committee hearings, five health sector groups representing more than 55,000 health workers, called for health and fairness to be at the heart of a strengthened Zero Carbon Bill.

“We support a Zero Carbon Bill to help us stay within 1.5 degrees of global warming to protect people’s wellbeing from the impacts of climate change. It also needs to be strengthened to take advantage of the huge opportunities of well-designed climate policy for better health and wellbeing. With well-designed climate policy we would expect to see substantial health gains,” says Dr Alexandra Macmillan, Co-convenor, OraTaiao: NZ Climate & Health Council.

Groups submitting to the Select Committee this morning were OraTaiao: NZ Climate & Health Council, NZ Nurses Organisation, NZ Medical Association, Public Health Association of NZ, and NZ College of Public Health Medicine. More than 20 organisations, representing much of the healthcare workforce, also made written submissions on the Zero Carbon Bill. 

JOINT MEDIA STATEMENT
9 August 2019

The New Zealand Climate & Health Council and health promotion charity Doctors for Nutrition strongly support the new Sustainability and the Health Sector guidance announced last week as it will result in a much healthier population.

“People and the planet will both be healthier if we shift towards a plant-based diet, and cut back on meat and dairy, as recommended,” according to Dr Alex Macmillan, Co-convenor of OraTaiao: The NZ Climate and Health Council.