I have received a lot of questions from physicians and leaders about the Canadian fires and what they can do.  Here are four free actions for health systems:

Cause of the fires:

1. The July 2026 Canada Fires impacting over 100 million people in the Midwest and New England are caused by drier forests exacerbated by climate change. From the Reuters article: “Canada, the world’s second-largest country in area, has nearly a tenth of the world’s total forest area. Many are unreachable by road and uninhabited. In recent years, the size and intensity of fires have increased.”
2. Climate scientist Andrew Dessler, a professor of atmospheric ⁠sciences at Texas A&M said higher temperatures were fueling bigger, more intense blazes in Canada. “The reason this is having a big effect on the U.S. right now is because of climate change, that’s the thing that ​has changed. Nothing else has changed.”
3. The US healthcare industry produces ~9% of the climate harming pollution in the US. It is the largest industry in the US at over 20% GDP and $5.3 Trillion annually.
4. According to Yale, over 66% of the US population (your employees, physicians and board) believe climate change is causing affordability issues and 76% of the population want to learn more about climate change.

Solution: 4 Actions from our short, free e-book PatientEarth: How Hospitals Can Profit from Sustainability.

1. Send an email to staff noting your awareness of the fires and as a leading system, you are acting to mitigate these events. Donate to a local non-profit to help your patients whose respiratory and chronic illnesses are most vulnerable during a smoke and heat emergency.
2. Form a workgroup of nursing, finance, medical staff, supplies and facilities to identify opportunities to reduce your organization’s pollution and waste. Charge this group to identify $1M in savings and 20 projects.  (believe me after doing this for over 20 hospitals, it will be easier to find than you think!)
3. Be data driven. Data sources include: OR, vehicles, electric, gas, water, facility budget, waste vendors, supply chain, HR engagement scores and endowment portfolio by industry.
4. Share your plan with the board and community. One large AMC changed their cups from Styrofoam to compostable and their customers were vocal and thrilled about it in patient satisfaction surveys.  You may be surprised by the positive response and free advertising.

As a 30+ year health executive, I founded SION60 years ago to help health organizations organize sustainability data in a simple platform and build a business plan that CFOs approve – at a low-cost with a guaranteed ROI.  Contact us for some help. PatientEarth is grateful for your leadership!

PS-  Please share with your peers and vendors- you pay them to be part of the solution, too.