This spring, LEAPH-Lab member Amy Klepetar and colleague Alysha Jones, both RNs and nurse-educators, developed and co-taught a new course at UNBC called Health, Justice, and the Environment. This course, which was an elective option intended for undergraduate or graduate students within nursing, as well as others headed toward healthcare careers, explores the triple planetary threats of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss, as well as the equity dimensions of these crises. A systems thinking approach is used to explore both social and ecological determinants of health. The equity focus considers environmental racism and justice, focusing on these issues within Canada, and especially in Northern British Columbia. Students gain an appreciation of the complexity of wicked problems in the context of health, justice, and the environment in Canada and are challenged to explore ways that those in the healthcare professions can act as advocates, researchers, policy leaders, educators, and workplace champions to improve planetary health.

The course began by introducing students to ways that they might cultivate their own resilience as they work through what can sometimes be emotionally-challenging content. This includes taking advantage of the restorative power of connecting with nature, looking to Indigenous cultural resurgence and leadership as inspiration, and using Active Hope, a proactive approach to facing challenges with determination.

Throughout the 8-week course, students from across Northern BC were tasked with finding and reflecting on evidence of a changing climate in their own regions; they developed student-led seminars focused on planetary health topics such as the impacts of extreme weather on those living in poverty, and the concept of ecological grief; and they undertook advocacy work in their own communities and workplaces. The voices of nurses and other healthcare workers are powerful in this arena, and students explored ways to amplify them, inspired by those already doing this important work. We had an incredibly thoughtful and passionate group of students fully engaged in the course and are looking forward to the next iteration!