As part of The Climate Connection initiative to support action on climate change in the public health community, Muir Gray and Frances Mortimer from The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare (formerly the Campaign for Greener Healthcare) have helped to develop www.theclimateconnection.org.
www.theclimateconnection.org hosts information resources on climate change and health, including slide packs developed in-house for the project, and Carbon Addict - a web-based educational tool linking high-carbon lifestyles, health and health interventions. However, the site is more than just an information library, being carefully designed to encourage both inter-professional collaboration and active learning. Participants on the site can contribute events, news articles, references, case studies ("actions"), and can initiate discussion fora on new topics - as long as these relate to both climate change and public health.
Future plans
In support of ongoing work by the UK Public Health Association to develop The Climate Connection regional activities, The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare proposes to build up the resource base provided through the website - engaging with academic groups, public health practitioners and wider partners to contribute content, making this content easily accessible to site users, and working with partners in education to incorporate it into public health teaching.