On the 9th July 2020 we held an Action Call to build the Health Movement for a Green New Deal. We discussed the what, why and how of building the health movement for transformative climate justice and were joined by special guest speakers: Dr Abdul El-Sayed – Former Health Director of Detroit and professor at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health Guppi Bola – Former Medact Interim-Director, Chair of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, researcher and public health strategist with a background in economic justice campaigning. Dr Stephanie Davis Le Brun – Clinical psychologist working in older adult mental health services and a member of the North West branch of Psychologists for Social Change. Here are some useful links shared in the Action Call. Form to book a Health for a Green New Deal campaign session: https://link.medact.org/GNDSession ‘Reimagining Public Health’ report by Guppi Bola: https://www.common-wealth.co.uk/reports/reimagining-public-health ‘The Green New Deal doesn’t just help climate. It’s also a public health new deal.’ by Abdul El-Sayed https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/26/the-green-new-deal-public-health-new-deal Just Recovery letter - Psychologists for Social Change North-West http://www.psychchange.org/a-north-west-just-recovery-following-coronavirus.html

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Action Call: Building the Health Movement for a Green New Deal

On the 2nd July 2020 we held the online launch of our latest report ‘False Positives: the Prevent counter-extremism policy in healthcare’. This report brings together new research that seeks to shed light on the implications of the Prevent duty in UK health services. Prevent is a controversial strand of the government’s counter-extremism strategy that obliges public service providers and workers to ‘have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism’. We heard from a panel of experts on the subject, including: Dr Hilary Aked – Research Manager at Medact and a writer and investigative researcher with a background in political sociology Dr Mayura Deshpande – Consultant forensic psychiatrist, deputy Chief Medical Officer at the Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, and chair of the Ethics and Professional Practice Committee at the Royal College of Psychiatrists Dr Tarek Younis – Cultural and critical clinical psychologist, and currently a Lecturer in Psychology at Middlesex University Rosalind Comyn – Policy and Campaigns Officer at Liberty, where she leads work across policing and counter-terrorism Read the report and key findings: https://www.medact.org/prevent-report Read our Peace & Security Campaigner’s article on mental health and deaths after police contact: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/ournhs/mental-health-and-deaths-after-police-contact-why-senis-law-is-welcome-but-mo/ Read our Campaign Assistant's blog on the expansion of policing powers during the coronavirus pandemic: https://www.medact.org/2020/blogs/policing-the-pandemic/ Read black feminist organiser and Global Health academic Sarah Lasoye’s blog on the police’s use of tasers: https://www.medact.org/2019/blogs/on-tasers-policing-and-imagining-new-responses-to-violence/ Sign up to our Securitisation of Health mailing list: https://www.medact.org/project/securitisation/ Find out more about joining Medact as a member: https://www.medact.org/membership/

False Positives: the Prevent counter-extremism policy in healthcare (report launch)

Soon after the COVID-19 pandemic reached the UK, it became clear that the NHS was not sufficiently equipped or staffed to respond to the crisis. In March, the government put out a call for industry to convert its production to manufacture crucial medical equipment, such as ventilators and PPE for frontline workers. To date, a number of arms and defence companies have responded to this call – alongside existing companies that manufacture medical equipment and others. Workers at Lucas Aerospace called for exactly this kind of arms conversion back in 1976, when they produced an Alternative Corporate Plan – now known as the Lucas Plan. In this webinar we discussed what a ‘just transition’ from industries that cause destruction to those that support peace and public health could and should look like. Thank you to our expert speakers: * Dr. Stuart Parkinson – Executive Director of Scientists for Global Responsibility * Phil Asquith – Chartered Engineer and former Chairman of the Lucas Aerospace Combine, Burnley site * Dr. Andy Haines – Professor of Environmental Change and Public Health at LSHTM * Hilary Wainwright – Founding editor of Red Pepper Magazine and co-author of ‘The Lucas Plan: A New Trade Unionism in the Making?’ * Sam Mason – Policy officer at PCS Union and member of the New Lucas Plan project We apologise for the connectivity problems that obscured the later part of Hilary's talk! Sign up at medact.org/emails to find out more about Medact's work bringing a health voice together for peace. *(Dr Stuart Parkinson said that 1,000 direct jobs were lost in the UK arms industry at the end of the Cold War - it was actually 100,000)

The arms industry in the era of COVID-19: lessons for the future

Environment programme lead David Powell discusses a partnership between the New Economic Foundation and the African Centre for a Green Economy looking at the dynamics between economic inequality and sustainability in four case studies from around Kenya.

David Powell At Healthy Planet, Better World - "Kenya's Progress On Inequality & Sustainability"

John Lanchbery is the Principal Advisor on climate change at the RSPB and a lead member of the BirdLife International team on climate change. At the conference he shared his insight on the COP21 Paris Agreement and what progress has been made towards the agreed goals.

John Lanchbery At HPBW - "The Paris Agreement: Game Changer Or More Hot Air?"

Humanity's central challenge in the 21st century is to realise the human rights of all within the means of this life-giving planet. In other words, we need to get into the Doughnut of social and planetary boundaries. Kate will show why addressing this challenge has to start with a new understanding of human prosperity, and will set out the six key factors determining whether or not we have half a chance of getting there.

Kate Raworth At HPBW - "Why It's Time For A New Version Of Human Prosperity"

The IPCC’s latest report, and the commitments enshrined in the Paris Agreement have reshaped the climate change agenda. Whilst the former establishes carbon budgets as the appropriate scientific foundation for mitigation policy, the latter obligates the international community ‘to hold the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C’. This ambitious agenda demands rates of mitigation far beyond anything evident in history and seldom countenanced by policy makers. Set against such a profound challenge, the presentation will interpret the opportunities and barriers for urgently accelerating the transition to a decarbonised future and consider the scale of impacts should we continue to choose procrastination over meaningful action.

Kevin Anderson At HPBW - "How informed hope and action can Trump despair"

MD and Founder of Health in Harmony, Kinari Webb, shares her insights on her organisation’s work improving the lives of people in the communities around Gunung Palung National Park in Borneo through increased and affordable health care, decreased logging of the park and introduction of alternative incomes sources.

Kinari Webb At HPBW - "Radical Listening: Saving Lives And Rainforest In Borneo"

Professor Corinna Hawkes provides a broad global perspective on the central challenges for food systems, as an opening to the Food stream of the conference.

Corinna Hawkes At Healthy Planet, Better World - "Global Food System Challenges"

Annie Quick, lead for Wellbeing and Inequality at the New Economics Foundation, outlines some of the issues around inequality and the environment in the UK, considers the political context, and attempts to offer a hope for the future.

Annie Quick At HPBW - "Equality And Sustainability: Where Does The UK Stand?"

Dr Lisa Page considers how we can conduct robust epidemiological research on how rising heat affects mental health. From the session "Climate Change & Mental Health" at Medact's 2016 Forum "Healthy Planet, Better World". Find out more at https://www.medact.org/forum-2016

Lisa Page at HPBW - "Heat & Health: Measuring the Public Health Impact of Climate Change"

Hugh Grant-Peterkin considers how psychotherapeutic thinking can help us understand our response to climate change; and opens up the session to a group discussion. From the session "Climate Change & Mental Health" at Medact's 2016 Forum "Healthy Planet, Better World". Find out more at https://www.medact.org/forum-2016

Hugh Grant-Peterkin at HPBW - "Groups under Pressure" - and follow-up discussion

Sally Weintrobe discusses the relationship between mental health, climate change, and a culture of uncare, arguing that climate change is a symptom of a much deeper problem affecting mental health. From the session "Climate Change & Mental Health" at Medact's 2016 Forum "Healthy Planet, Better World". Find out more at http://www.sallyweintrobe.com/ and https://www.medact.org/forum-2016/

Sally Weintrobe at HPBW - "Some effects of current culture on mental health"

David McCoy speaking at Medact's Fracking Masterclass in Sheffield on fracking's impacts on health.

David McCoy on the Impacts on Health - Sheffield Fracking Masterclass

Joanne Hawkins speaking at Medact's Fracking Masterclass in Sheffield on Regulation.

Joanne Hawkins on Regulation - Sheffield Fracking Masterclass

Medact is a UK public health charity working to educate and advocate on the wider determinants of health - including war, poverty, and environmental degradation.

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