The Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research at 快播视频 will host a symposium to explore how human activity is pushing ecological limits to a breaking point, and climate change is a fundamental threat to human life.

Taking place on Nov. 24 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., both in person at the Keele Campus and online, the Planetary Health for a Planetary Emergency symposium aims to bring together scholars from the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research and across 快播视频 who work at the intersection of climate change and health, to discuss the potentials of planetary health as a driver of just climate action.

This event will also launch the Dahdaleh Institute Planetary Health Research Council which supports a collaborative research community of faculty, postdoctoral Fellows and graduate students committed to planetary health research at 快播视频 and beyond. 

The event draws attention to the need for clear associations between climate change and health, and to develop critical problem-solving interventions and advocate for climate action that advances well-being for all. The symposium will explore questions, such as: How do we do this while holding a critical view of the systems and structures which have led us into this climate catastrophe, including the ideologies of colonialism and capitalism that underpin the modern era? How do we advance effective and equitable solutions for planetary health that work against these systems and structures instead of upholding them?

The day鈥檚 agenda will include panel discussions with three themes featuring guest speakers.

Water: This panel explores the role water plays at the confluence of environmental and human health. Speakers will discuss efforts to support vital biological and social functions of water in the face of our rapidly changing climate and how such efforts might be positioned to work towards more just, sustainable and integrated water management.

Speaking on the topic of water will be: Deborah McGregor, a Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Environmental Justice and a professor cross-appointed with Osgoode Hall Law School and the Faculty of Environment & Urban Change at 快播视频; Sapna Sharma, an associate professor in the Department of Biology at 快播视频 and York Research Chair in Global Change Biology; and Byomkesh Talukder, an assistant professor at the Department of Global Health at Florida International University. Moderating this panel will be Caroline Diana Duncan, a PhD candidate in civil engineering at York with a strong focus on optimizing drinking water in the Arctic using participatory approaches to system dynamics modelling.

Land: This panel examines the role of land in achieving planetary health, taking a wide view across issues of food security, extractivism, urbanization and conservation. This includes examples of how land is inherently interconnected with people and the environment and how access to land and tenure rights are themselves a determinant of human and environmental health.

Discussion on topics related to land will be led by: Dayna N. Scott, an associate professor and York Research Chair in Environmental Law & Justice with Osgoode Hall Law School at 快播视频 where she is also cross appointed with the Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change; James Stinson, a postdoctoral Fellow in Planetary Health Education at 快播视频, cross appointed to the Faculty of Education and the Dahdaleh Institute of Global Health Research; Raphael Aguiar, a PhD candidate in the Health Policy and Equity program at 快播视频 and a Dahdaleh Global Health Graduate Scholar; and Sarah Rotz, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change. This panel will be moderated by Nilanjana (Nell) Ganguli, a PhD student in the Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change.

Air: This last panel addresses how air is brought into our approaches to planetary health, drawing together a range of fields related to emissions reduction, human well-being, air pollution and climate adaptation. Speakers will consider how air pollution disproportionately impacts low income and marginalized populations as well as the climate policy synergies of tackling air pollution that both damages health and impairs ecosystems.

Participating in this discussion are: Cora Young, an associate professor and the Rogers Chair in Chemistry at 快播视频; Eric B. Kennedy, an associate professor and area coordinator of the Disaster and Emergency Management program at 快播视频; and Jean-Thomas Tremblay, an assistant professor of environmental humanities at 快播视频. Moderating this panel will be Hillary Birch, a PhD student in the Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change at 快播视频, where she is a SSHRC doctoral Fellow.

For more information, or to register, visit the event webpage.

Article originally published in the November 7, 2023 issue of

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The Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research at 快播视频 is presenting a special film festival on Aug. 19 to mark the completion of the 2022 edition of the Planetary Health Film Lab (PHFL). The Micro Film Festival will take place online from 6 to 8 p.m. This event if free and open to the public. All are welcome.

Now in its third year, this summer the 2022 PHFL is working with 15 Indigenous youth from Ecuador. Many of the participants have never operated a camera and for some, this will be the first time they have left their home communities. The group will gather in Quito, Ecuador鈥檚 capital, from Aug. 15 to 18 for a workshop led by the award-winning documentary filmmaker Mark Terry, who is also a researcher with the Dahdaleh Institute and an adjunct professor at 快播视频.

In the months leading up to this year鈥檚 workshop, the participants have adopted the role of filmmakers. They have been busy conducting research, filming interviews with elders from their communities and collecting footage of landscapes and wildlife for their films. They will then spend the workshop attending lectures delivered by local and international experts in the fields of planetary health, filmmaking, Indigenous studies, youth studies, the United Nations (UN) and participatory storytelling techniques to inform and influence UN policymakers. Each afternoon, the participants will have access to a post-production laboratory at the Escuela Polit茅cnica Nacional (EPN) in Quito, a partner university in this year鈥檚 PHFL, where they will work on completing their films. (EPN鈥檚 website for the event can be viewed . )English subtitles for the films will be developed in partnership with the Quechua Academy of Humanities, an affiliate of the EPN and a PHFL partner. Experts from the Quechua Academy of Humanities will work with the participants in their native languages of Kichwa and Shuar to ensure all films receive accurate translation for the subtitles.

As 2022 is the first year of the , all 15 films will also be showcased at a special event at the UN Climate Change Conference, COP27, taking place this November in Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt.

The PHFL is an international program that began in 2019, bringing youth from Italy, India, Australia, Ecuador, Colombia and Canada to 快播视频鈥檚 Keele Campus for a series of workshops and training sessions in environmental documentary filmmaking to showcase planetary health issues in their respective communities. The following year, in the midst of the pandemic, a remote version of the PHFL took place with Indigenous youth from the Circumpolar Arctic. All the films were then showcased at a micro film festival to wrap up the program. The festivals are open to the public and often the first time the young filmmakers have the opportunity to present their work to the world. For even broader impact, the films are then submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change鈥檚 (UNFCCC) Youth Climate Report, and upon approval, added to the and presented at the annual COP conferences.

鈥淏y amplifying the voices of youth and of Indigenous Peoples throughout the world, representation of these groups and their planetary health issues are getting noticed and addressed at the UN鈥檚 annual climate summits even more now than in previous years,鈥� says Terry.

鈥淭he tools provided by the PHFL program empower participants not only to make films about planetary health issues in their communities and share them with UN delegates but, crucially, to share these techniques and approaches with other youth in their home communities long after the program ends,鈥� adds Terry. 鈥淚n one case, a PHFL participant in Australia used the skills he learned in the PHFL to open his own film production company specifically to make environmental documentaries for those in power.鈥�

Co-leading the 2022 edition of the PHFL are: Dr. James Orbinski, a physician and the director of the Dahdaleh Institute; Canada Research Chair in Youth, Education & Global Good in the Faculty of Education at York; and , senior research associate and manager of the Young Lives Research Lab at 快播视频, with , a researcher and professor at Escuela Polit茅cnica Nacional, and , the director of the Quechua Academy of Humanities.

A lifechanging and inspiring event, register now for the Aug.19 Micro Film Festival.

Watch the promotional video (below) that was co-created by the PHFL participants.

Article originally published in the August 10, 2022 issue of

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