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Courtney Howard

Photo of Courtney Howard
Guest Contributor British Columbia English
Opinion, Energy, Politics, Culture, environment, toxins, public health
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About Courtney Howard

Dr. Courtney Howard is an emergency physician in Yellowknives Dene territory, a clinical associate professor in the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, a community research fellow in planetary health at the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research and past president of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE).

Howard has researched menstrual cups and wildfires, and led policy work and advocacy regarding eco-anxiety, movement-building, active transport, plant-rich diets, divestment, carbon pricing, coal phaseout and hydraulic fracturing in the oilsands. She led the 2017-2019 Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change Briefings for Canadian Policymakers and was the 2018 international policy director for the Lancet Countdown.

As co-chair of advocacy for the WHO Civil Society Working Group on Climate Change and Health, Howard helped to launch a global healthy recovery initiative asking G20 leaders to focus on low-carbon investments —which gained the support of two-thirds of the world’s health-care professionals. She sits on the boards of the Canadian Medical Association, Health in Harmony and the Global Climate and Health Alliance, as well as the Steering Committee of the Planetary Health Alliance, and the editorial advisory boards of the Lancet Planetary Health and the Journal of Climate Change and Health.

When not engaged in planetary health nerdiness, Howard can often be found with her two daughters, dancing on the shores of Great Slave Lake.

10 Articles

In the climate emergency, don't forget to stop and take your own pulse

As climate impacts worsen, worry, grief, anger and guilt are becoming more widespread, writes Dr. Courtney Howard. Being open about these emotions is a gift to everyone else around you — because it lets people know that they are not alone.
Opinion | July 7th 2021

Public health depends upon a strong climate act for Canada. Just look at the U.K.

Bill C-12 would be strengthened by stipulating an independent scientific expert body that reports to Parliament to ensure it is immune from political retaliation, write physicians Courtney Howard and Claudel Pétrin-Desrosiers.
Analysis | June 11th 2021

Climate action can save lives — it's time to go big

It is time to stop worrying about the impacts of climate change on health and start creating a healthy future for ourselves and our communities, write Dr. Courtney Howard and Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions president Linda Silas.
Opinion | April 22nd 2021

COVID-19 crisis is a tipping point. Will we invest in planetary health, or oil and gas? 

Amidst a pandemic, Canada is considering a massive transfer of public funds to support the oil and gas sector — the very industry most likely to cause the next health crisis.
Coronavirus in Canada
Opinion | March 24th 2020

Youth climate strike: 'a diagnosis being made en masse,' says ER doc

There is a sense of a diagnosis being made, en masse. The children of the world have shunned the system created by adults.... They are looking into each other’s eyes, confirming that climate change is an existential threat to their health and well-being, and that their elders have failed to protect them.
Race to a Safer World
Opinion | March 15th 2019

Avoiding the “F” word: How “natural” is Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)?

In October, the B.C. government celebrated a decision by private-sector investors to proceed with LNG Canada, a $40 billion infrastructure project in Kitimat to export “natural” gas. Why are so many media and government announcements  studiously avoiding the “F” word?
Opinion | November 2nd 2018

Treating the climate with coal phase-out

The Lancet tells us that climate change is the biggest global health threat of the 21st century…and that tackling climate change could be the greatest global health opportunity of the 21st century.
Opinion, Energy, Politics | November 29th 2017

Canadian Medical Association completes divestment from fossil fuels

Race to a Safer World
News | August 29th 2016

Open letter from Canadian physicians to Justin Trudeau

Canada's top physicians call on Trudeau to make human health a guiding principle of Canada's Paris climate commitements.
COP21
News, COP21 | November 30th 2015

Wildfires, your health and what to do about it

Wildfires
Opinion | August 4th 2015

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