Talkin' Trash With UHN

Freerange, organic, green healthcare ideas

Earth Month

Celebrate our one-and-only shared home in this supersized month! There’s a lot to being green, so we’ve broken it up into easy, free-range, organic chunks. Each week, we will activate a new snack-sized quiz for you, starting with Climate Change, then Energy & Water, Green Transportation, 5-R’s Waste Less & Recycle, culminating with Food & Garden. It all starts on Earth Hour, March 25th, and goes throughout April. On Apr 5 – 30, we’ll be swapping seeds with Wellness. On April 11, we have a great virtual presentation, open to all. On Earth Day itself, April 22, join us outside to help restore our park lands. On April 27, join us live or virtually on how to break up with fossil fuels. Happy Earth Month!

Quiz Yourself! Week by week

EVENTS!

Click the button once it’s active (>>) to test you knowledge on the topic or register for the event. Each 2 – 3 minute game gives you an opportunity to win one of several $50 gift cards (UHN Staff/Volunteers only). If you participate in anything earth month, you will get first priority for UHN’s Tree-Planting event.

Scroll down for the full event calendar!

Week 1
Mar 25
Climate Change
Earth Hour: March 25, 8:30 – 9:30 pm – unplug or anything planet-positive
Test Yourself on this week’s quiz for a chance to win
– See the IPCC’s major climate report which puts all their other reports together
– See Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change
– Join UHN’s green team , email green@uhn.ca to start
Week
2
Apr 3
Energy & Water
EVENT: Seed Swap, Apr 5 – 30, open all day at the TG Wellness Centre
Test Yourself on this week’s quiz for a chance to win
– Try Mike‘s ideas to quit fossil fuels at home (also works for Climate Change)
– Give a FLICK, switch off lights and anything you aren’t currently using
– Save water and remember that toilets are not trashcans
Week 3
Apr 10
Green Transportation
EVENT: Sustainability in Research Tue, 11 April, 2 – 3:30 PM EDT,
virtual session for all, free ticket here
Test yourself (chance to win)
– Walking, biking, public transit, carpooling, Electric Vehicles (EV)
– Free charging for EVs at TG, TW, LC (new!)
– UHN built more bike parking, gives a sweet discount on BikeShare Toronto memberships, see you in June for Bike Month.
– As members of SmartCommute, find ride matching, contests and more
Week 4
Apr 17
5-R’s Waste Less

– EVENT: Nature Stewards Habitat Restoration, Sun Apr 23, 10 am – 12 pm, Cherry Beach: Help our parks by pulling invasive species and tidying trash. Register at green@uhn.ca (new date due to rain)
Test yourself (chance to win), opens Apr 17
– Practice the 5R’s: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot, Try these and these
– Less Linear, more Circular Economy, buying better
Operation Green, if your area has surplus medical supplies, donate them this way to communities in need around the globe. Happens monthly all year long
– Matchmaking your stuff with Materials Exchange Program
Week 5
Apr 24
Food & Garden

– EVENT:
Earth Month Webinar: Breaking Up With Fossil Fuels, and are Bioplastics Fantastic? (new date) Fri Apr 28, 12 – 1 pm, webinar and discussion. Register at green@uhn.ca
Test yourself (chance to win), opens Apr 24
Seed Swap continues!
– contact green@uhn.ca to get bee-friendly seed packets via interoffice mail
– add more plants to your diet, host a #GreatBigCrunch with your team

Seed Swap

Drop off extra seeds you won’t use and pick up new seeds to grow your own food or flowers.

Seed Swap Video – everything you need to know in less than a minute
NOW ALL MONTH LONG!!! Bring your seeds from home > put them in the little envelopes Wellness has > label them > leave them in the Seed Swap Station > look for other seeds to bring home > get growing!

Nature Stewards Habitat Restoration:

Sunday April 23, 10 am – 12 pm, Cherry Beach (new date due to rain)

We’re shifting a day due to the forecast of a lot of rain on Saturday. Live event! Help restore our park lands by pulling out invasive species that threaten local plant-life and biodiversity. Tidy a little trash too. Family friendly event! Email green@uhn.ca to register.

Earth Month Webinar:

– Breaking Up With Fossil Fuels

– Are Bioplastics Fantastic?

Friday April 28, 12 – 1 pm, online presentation and discussion

Join our own Mike Kurz, Team Lead, Energy & Innovation, Mehdi Motakefpour, Energy Project Manager and Home Energy Auditor, and Andrew Holownynch, Green Team Member and Home Energy Auditor for this amazing session on breaking up with fossil fuels. They will take us through some excellent energy projects at UHN and lots of advise for quitting fossil fuels at home (aka decarbonizing). Mike will detail his personal quest to decarbonize his house, while Mehdi and Andrew will really delve into what you can do for a happy planet home.

Next, Ed Rubinstein, Director of Energy & Environment, will get to the bottom of the Biodegradable Plastics debate.

Email green@uhn.ca to register.

If any of this month’s happenings sound like your jam, join UHN’s green team by emailing us at green@uhn.ca.

For a look at UHN’s Patient and Planet Centred Care in 60 seconds…

“Climate change is the greatest global health threat facing the world in the 21st century, but it is also the greatest opportunity to redefine the social and environmental determinants of health.” – the Lancet Countdown on Health & Climate Change