Latest news with #MelissaLem
Canada Standard
03-07-2025
- Health
- Canada Standard
Canada's LNG Touted-And Doubted-as 'Transition' Fuel as Doctors Sound the Alarm
Doctors and health professionals are flagging significant health risks in British Columbia and around the world as Canada's first liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes make their way toward Asian shores. Some analysts, meanwhile, are touting the industry milestone-and more credible voices are doubting it-as a boon for global efforts to curb the greenhouse gas emissions driving the climate emergency. LNG Canada said Monday that the vessel GasLog Glasgow has departed the northern port of Kitimat, British Columbia, full of ultra-chilled natural gas, The Canadian Press reports. LNG Canada hasn't confirmed the overall price tag for the project. But the federal government has billed it as the biggest private sector investment in Canadian history-$40 billion between the Kitimat operation, the northeast B.C. gas fields supplying it, and the pipeline in between. Shell and four Asian companies are partners in LNG Canada, the first facility to export Canadian gas across the Pacific in the ultra-chilled state using specialized tankers. A handful of other projects are either under construction or in development on the B.C. coast. "Cleaner energy around the world is what I think about when I think about LNG," Shell Canada country chair Stastia West said in an onstage interview at the Global Energy Show in Calgary in June. But "clean" was not quite the adjective the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment attached to LNG in an early July release. "The departure of this first LNG tanker marks a troubling new chapter in British Columbia's health story," family physician and CAPE President Dr. Melissa Lem said in a release. "While industry celebrates, health care professionals are bracing for the consequences of expanded fracking operations. Fracking and LNG production accelerate climate change and release harmful pollutants-including benzene, toluene, formaldehyde, and particulate matter linked with asthma, heart disease, birth defects, and childhood leukemia." Lem said northeastern B.C. communities adjacent to fracking operations "are already experiencing these impacts, with higher rates of adverse pregnancy outcomes and respiratory diseases. Indigenous communities are disproportionately affected, with studies showing elevated levels of fracking-related chemicals in household air, water, and the bodies of pregnant women compared to unexposed populations. Health care professionals are moving away from these communities with their families because of their lived experience with the local health impacts of fracking, exacerbating issues with access to care. This represents a serious environmental justice issue that demands immediate attention." "We're already seeing the health consequences of climate change in B.C. through more frequent and intense wildfires, heat domes, and flooding," added family doctor Dr. Bethany Ricker, a Nanaimo-based representative of CAPE-BC. "By expanding LNG production, we're locking in decades of these climate-related health emergencies." Alberta Premier Danielle Smith told the fossil energy show that Canadian oil and gas exports can be an "antidote" to the current geopolitical chaos, CP writes, while claiming outsized benefits from LNG as a climate solutions. View our latest digests "By moving more natural gas, we can also help countries transition away from higher emitting fuels, such as coal." Smith cited a recent study by the fossil industry-funded Fraser Institute that claimed if Canada were to double its gas production, export the additional supply to Asia, and displace coal there, it would lead to an annual emissions cut of up to 630 million tonnes annually. "That's almost 90% of Canada's total greenhouse gas emissions each year," Smith said. The primary component of natural gas, fracked or otherwise, is methane, a climate super-pollutant about 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide over the 20-year span when humanity will be scrambling to get climate change under control. And actual scientists doing real research say methane releases from fracking operations, controlled or not, can make the climate impact of gas as bad as or worse than coal. But CP says the authors of the Fraser Institute study, released in May, still maintained that LNG's claims to reduce emissions elsewhere should be factored into Canadian climate policy. "It is important to recognize that GHG emissions are global and are not confined by borders," wrote Elmira Aliakbari and Julio Mejia. "Instead of focusing on reducing domestic GHG emissions in Canada by implementing various policies that hinder economic growth, governments must shift their focus toward global GHG reductions and help the country cut emissions worldwide by expanding its LNG exports." Many experts see a murkier picture. Most credible estimates suggest that if LNG were to indeed displace coal abroad, there would be some emissions reductions, said Kent Fellows, assistant professor of economics with the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy. But the magnitude is debatable. "Will all of our natural gas exports be displacing coal? Absolutely not. Will a portion of them be displacing coal? Probably, and it's really hard to know exactly what that number is," he said. Fellows said there's a good chance Canadian supplies would supplant other sources of gas from Russia, Eurasia, and the Middle East, perhaps making it a wash emissions-wise. He said the Canadian gas could actually be worse from an emissions standpoint, depending on how the competing supply moves. LNG is more energy intensive than pipeline shipment because the gas needs to be liquefied and moved on a ship. In China, every type of energy is in demand. So instead of displacing coal, LNG would likely just be added to the mix, Fellows added. "Anyone who's thinking about this as one or the other is thinking about it wrong," Fellows said. A senior analyst with Investors for Paris Compliance, which aims to hold Canadian publicly-traded companies to their net-zero promises, said he doubts a country like India would see the economic case for replacing domestically produced coal with imported Canadian gas. "Even at the lowest price of gas, it's still multiple times the price," said Michael Sambasivam. "You'd need some massive system to provide subsidies to developing countries to be replacing their coal with a fuel that isn't even really proven to be much greener." And even in that case, "it's not as if they can just flip a switch and take it in," he added. "There's a lot of infrastructure that needs to be built to take in LNG as well as to use it. You have to build import terminals. You have to refit your power terminals." Moreover, the world is not many months away from a global glut of LNG that will further erode demand for Canadian gas. "As pointed out by the IEA [last month], we are at the cusp of 'the largest capacity wave in any comparable period in the history of LNG markets,'" wrote Alexandra Scott, senior climate diplomacy expert with Italy's ECCO climate think tank, and Luca Bergamaschi, the organization's co-founding executive director. "This would have profound impact on global gas markets at a time when major gas consumers, namely Europe and China, show trends of much lower demand than expected, as both blocs electrify their economy and increase efficiency." What LNG would be competing head-to-head with, Sambasivam told CP, is renewable energy. And if there were any emissions reductions abroad as a result of the coal-to-gas switch, Sambasivam said he doesn't see why a Canadian company should get the credit. "Both parties are going to want to claim the emissions savings and you can't claim those double savings," he said. There's also a "jarring" double-standard at play, he said, as industry players have long railed against environmental reviews that factor in emissions from the production and combustion of the oil and gas a pipeline carries, saying only the negligible emissions from running the infrastructure itself should be considered. Devyani Singh, an investigative researcher at who ran for the Greens in last year's B.C. election, said arguments that LNG is a green fuel are undermined by the climate impacts of producing, liquefying, and shipping it. Methane that leaks from tanks, pipelines, and wells has been a major issue that industry, government, and environmental groups have been working to tackle. "Have we actually accounted for all the leakage along the whole pipeline? Have we accounted for the actual under-reporting of methane emissions happening in B.C. and Canada?" asked Singh. Even if LNG does have an edge over coal, thinking about it as a "transition" or "bridge" fuel at this juncture is a problem, she said. "The time for transition fuels is over," she said. "Let's just be honest-we are in a climate crisis where the time for transition fuels was over a decade ago." The main body of this report was first published by The Canadian Press on June 29, 2025. Source: The Energy Mix
Canada News.Net
03-07-2025
- Health
- Canada News.Net
Canada's LNG Touted-And Doubted-as 'Transition' Fuel as Doctors Sound the Alarm
Doctors and health professionals are flagging significant health risks in British Columbia and around the world as Canada's first liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes make their way toward Asian shores. Some analysts, meanwhile, are touting the industry milestone-and more credible voices are doubting it-as a boon for global efforts to curb the greenhouse gas emissions driving the climate emergency. LNG Canada said Monday that the vessel GasLog Glasgow has departed the northern port of Kitimat, British Columbia, full of ultra-chilled natural gas, The Canadian Press reports. LNG Canada hasn't confirmed the overall price tag for the project. But the federal government has billed it as the biggest private sector investment in Canadian history-$40 billion between the Kitimat operation, the northeast B.C. gas fields supplying it, and the pipeline in between. Shell and four Asian companies are partners in LNG Canada, the first facility to export Canadian gas across the Pacific in the ultra-chilled state using specialized tankers. A handful of other projects are either under construction or in development on the B.C. coast. "Cleaner energy around the world is what I think about when I think about LNG," Shell Canada country chair Stastia West said in an onstage interview at the Global Energy Show in Calgary in June. But "clean" was not quite the adjective the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment attached to LNG in an early July release. "The departure of this first LNG tanker marks a troubling new chapter in British Columbia's health story," family physician and CAPE President Dr. Melissa Lem said in a release. "While industry celebrates, health care professionals are bracing for the consequences of expanded fracking operations. Fracking and LNG production accelerate climate change and release harmful pollutants-including benzene, toluene, formaldehyde, and particulate matter linked with asthma, heart disease, birth defects, and childhood leukemia." Lem said northeastern B.C. communities adjacent to fracking operations "are already experiencing these impacts, with higher rates of adverse pregnancy outcomes and respiratory diseases. Indigenous communities are disproportionately affected, with studies showing elevated levels of fracking-related chemicals in household air, water, and the bodies of pregnant women compared to unexposed populations. Health care professionals are moving away from these communities with their families because of their lived experience with the local health impacts of fracking, exacerbating issues with access to care. This represents a serious environmental justice issue that demands immediate attention." "We're already seeing the health consequences of climate change in B.C. through more frequent and intense wildfires, heat domes, and flooding," added family doctor Dr. Bethany Ricker, a Nanaimo-based representative of CAPE-BC. "By expanding LNG production, we're locking in decades of these climate-related health emergencies." Alberta Premier Danielle Smith told the fossil energy show that Canadian oil and gas exports can be an "antidote" to the current geopolitical chaos, CP writes, while claiming outsized benefits from LNG as a climate solutions. View our latest digests "By moving more natural gas, we can also help countries transition away from higher emitting fuels, such as coal." Smith cited a recent study by the fossil industry-funded Fraser Institute that claimed if Canada were to double its gas production, export the additional supply to Asia, and displace coal there, it would lead to an annual emissions cut of up to 630 million tonnes annually. "That's almost 90% of Canada's total greenhouse gas emissions each year," Smith said. The primary component of natural gas, fracked or otherwise, is methane, a climate super-pollutant about 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide over the 20-year span when humanity will be scrambling to get climate change under control. And actual scientists doing real research say methane releases from fracking operations, controlled or not, can make the climate impact of gas as bad as or worse than coal. But CP says the authors of the Fraser Institute study, released in May, still maintained that LNG's claims to reduce emissions elsewhere should be factored into Canadian climate policy. "It is important to recognize that GHG emissions are global and are not confined by borders," wrote Elmira Aliakbari and Julio Mejia. "Instead of focusing on reducing domestic GHG emissions in Canada by implementing various policies that hinder economic growth, governments must shift their focus toward global GHG reductions and help the country cut emissions worldwide by expanding its LNG exports." Many experts see a murkier picture. Most credible estimates suggest that if LNG were to indeed displace coal abroad, there would be some emissions reductions, said Kent Fellows, assistant professor of economics with the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy. But the magnitude is debatable. "Will all of our natural gas exports be displacing coal? Absolutely not. Will a portion of them be displacing coal? Probably, and it's really hard to know exactly what that number is," he said. Fellows said there's a good chance Canadian supplies would supplant other sources of gas from Russia, Eurasia, and the Middle East, perhaps making it a wash emissions-wise. He said the Canadian gas could actually be worse from an emissions standpoint, depending on how the competing supply moves. LNG is more energy intensive than pipeline shipment because the gas needs to be liquefied and moved on a ship. In China, every type of energy is in demand. So instead of displacing coal, LNG would likely just be added to the mix, Fellows added. "Anyone who's thinking about this as one or the other is thinking about it wrong," Fellows said. A senior analyst with Investors for Paris Compliance, which aims to hold Canadian publicly-traded companies to their net-zero promises, said he doubts a country like India would see the economic case for replacing domestically produced coal with imported Canadian gas. "Even at the lowest price of gas, it's still multiple times the price," said Michael Sambasivam. "You'd need some massive system to provide subsidies to developing countries to be replacing their coal with a fuel that isn't even really proven to be much greener." And even in that case, "it's not as if they can just flip a switch and take it in," he added. "There's a lot of infrastructure that needs to be built to take in LNG as well as to use it. You have to build import terminals. You have to refit your power terminals." Moreover, the world is not many months away from a global glut of LNG that will further erode demand for Canadian gas. "As pointed out by the IEA [last month], we are at the cusp of 'the largest capacity wave in any comparable period in the history of LNG markets,'" wrote Alexandra Scott, senior climate diplomacy expert with Italy's ECCO climate think tank, and Luca Bergamaschi, the organization's co-founding executive director. "This would have profound impact on global gas markets at a time when major gas consumers, namely Europe and China, show trends of much lower demand than expected, as both blocs electrify their economy and increase efficiency." What LNG would be competing head-to-head with, Sambasivam told CP, is renewable energy. And if there were any emissions reductions abroad as a result of the coal-to-gas switch, Sambasivam said he doesn't see why a Canadian company should get the credit. "Both parties are going to want to claim the emissions savings and you can't claim those double savings," he said. There's also a "jarring" double-standard at play, he said, as industry players have long railed against environmental reviews that factor in emissions from the production and combustion of the oil and gas a pipeline carries, saying only the negligible emissions from running the infrastructure itself should be considered. Devyani Singh, an investigative researcher at who ran for the Greens in last year's B.C. election, said arguments that LNG is a green fuel are undermined by the climate impacts of producing, liquefying, and shipping it. Methane that leaks from tanks, pipelines, and wells has been a major issue that industry, government, and environmental groups have been working to tackle. "Have we actually accounted for all the leakage along the whole pipeline? Have we accounted for the actual under-reporting of methane emissions happening in B.C. and Canada?" asked Singh. Even if LNG does have an edge over coal, thinking about it as a "transition" or "bridge" fuel at this juncture is a problem, she said. "The time for transition fuels is over," she said. "Let's just be honest-we are in a climate crisis where the time for transition fuels was over a decade ago." The main body of this report was first published by The Canadian Press on June 29, 2025.
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Disease-carrying ticks are showing up earlier in B.C., and in greater numbers
Ticks are showing up earlier and in greater numbers in B.C., spreading pathogens such as the one that causes Lyme disease. Cases of that have gone up nationwide by more than 5,000 since 2009. CBC medical columnist Melissa Lem explains what you need to know.
CBC
17-06-2025
- Health
- CBC
Disease-carrying ticks are showing up earlier in B.C., and in greater numbers
Ticks are showing up earlier and in greater numbers in B.C., spreading pathogens such as the one that causes Lyme disease. Cases of that have gone up nationwide by more than 5,000 since 2009. CBC medical columnist Melissa Lem explains what you need to know.
Medscape
08-05-2025
- Health
- Medscape
Nature Art Prescriptions Support Mental Health in Vancouver
On World Health Day, the Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) and BC Parks Foundation's PaRx, Canada's national nature prescription program, launched a partnership to support patients' mental health and psychological well-being. The new collaboration is the first of its kind in Canada and possibly the world, providing an immersive indoor art and nature experience in an urban setting. Sirish Rao 'We know that visitors come to the gallery seeking more than art — they come to reflect, restore, and find solace,' VAG Interim CEO Sirish Rao told Medscape Medical News . The exhibition 'Emily Carr: Navigating an Impenetrable Landscape' provides an appropriate indoor nature experience for the prescription. Carr's paintings of British Columbia's forests invite leisurely contemplation, according to Rao. Melissa Lem, MD, a family physician and director of PaRx's Park Prescriptions, told Medscape Medical News , 'PaRx frequently receives questions from patients and prescribers about how people who have outdoor accessibility issues, whether it's due to inclement weather or trouble with mobility, can fill nature prescriptions. Melissa Lem, MD 'Prescribing a nature-inspired art experience is a way to make the health and well-being benefits of nature accessible to more people,' she said. 'It's also a way to inspire new audiences — those who may feel more at home in an art gallery than outside — to step outside into nature to improve their health.' A printed guide for the exhibit encourages visitors to 'slow look' (ie, look at each painting at length), connect to the images of nature, and reflect on how the experience makes them feel. Visitors also are encouraged to spend time exploring local parks or getting involved in protecting nature. During the first year of the program, each visitor with a prescription and an optional guest will receive free admission to the gallery, underscoring the initiative's effort to foster social connections while removing financial barriers. Visitors may return as often as they like through January 4, 2026, by retaining their PaRx nature prescriptions. What the Evidence Says 'Nature is so powerful that just looking at images of it can improve markers of health and well-being,' Lem said. 'There's an impressive amount of evidence describing the benefits of nature time across almost any kind of mental and physical health issue you can imagine, from hypertension and diabetes to prenatal care and depression.' Recent studies have supported those benefits. For example, a special issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health entitled 'Advances in Nature-Based Therapies and Human Health' features 11 papers with research covering exposure to or participation in nature and their effects on mood, psychological well-being, anxiety, and social engagement across a range of settings. In addition, a small study published in Scientific Reports showed that photo slideshows of forest had a positive effect on cognition and reduced physiological arousal among university students in Germany. Studies also support the psychological benefits of prescribing art. A recent systematic review and meta-analysis concluded that art interventions led to 'a statistically significant improvement in well-being' among participants, with 'promising outcomes' that require further investigation, such as reductions in anxiety and depression. Most prescriptions in the PaRx program tend to be for mental health concerns, Lem noted. 'Vancouver has a reputation for being a lonely city, and this new collaboration specifically seeks to improve social connection.' Research shows that connecting people to nature not only improves their health and well-being but also can result in fewer prescriptions for pharmaceuticals. For example, a recent study indicated that heading outdoors three to four times per week can lower the likelihood of taking blood pressure pills by 36% and taking mental health medications by 33%. Paula Toledo In addition, some evidence suggests that spending time in museums can reduce stress and cortisol levels, said mental health advisor Paula Toledo, the VAG's lead well-being consultant. 'As we look at ways to buffer loneliness and social isolation, we are drawing on research that shows that interactions with art and nature can evoke feelings of awe and inspire wonder,' she told Medscape Medical News . 'In these moments, when people feel interconnected with something larger than themselves, they can often feel a greater inclination toward community involvement and pro-social actions.' What Prescribers Say Lem said that while it's 'early days' for the collaborative initiative with VAG, which was launched last month, 'two of my own patients, a young woman who's struggling with a new cancer diagnosis and an elder with hypertension and chronic kidney disease, have asked me for nature prescriptions, specifically saying they thought a visit to the gallery would improve their mental health.' Carla Fry, PhD Carla Fry, PhD, director of the Vancouver Psychology Centre, told Medscape Medical News , 'What stands out most is how moved people feel afterward. One client told me she hadn't realized how much she needed 'a place to just be' — no pressure, no expectations. Several others have shared how the exhibit gave them a sense of calm they hadn't felt in weeks. 'A few were surprised by how emotional the experience was,' she said. 'For some, Carr's landscapes stirred memories or longings that had been sitting just beneath the surface. Interestingly, the chance to bring a guest has also made the experience more inviting. Clients often describe going with a friend or family member and finding it strengthened those bonds, too.' Because some of her clients weren't sure what to expect or whether they were expected to 'understand' the art in a particular way, Fry emphasizes beforehand that there's no right or wrong way to experience the exhibit. She advises clients with sensory challenges to wear shaded glasses, hats with brims, or noise-cancelling headphones to limit the impact of other patrons, lights, or ambient sounds that may distract them from focusing on the art. Cindy Hayto Cindy Hayto, a registered physical and occupational therapist at ARC Active Rehab Consulting in Burnaby, British Columbia, prescribes the exhibit to her older clients with mobility issues that make it difficult to get outside without relying on caregivers. The idea that connecting with nature can bring physical and mental benefits 'can be a foreign concept to some, but introducing them to nature-themed art is a way of breaking the ice,' she said. The exhibit provides a worksheet that prompts viewers to sharpen their observations as they reflect on the paintings, and this increased acuity can be transferred to observations outdoors. 'Even looking at the trees from their window, they can see the movements, hear the sounds, observe the winged wildlife within the branches and imagine stories,' Hayto continued. 'The benefits can be immediate, including slower, deeper breathing; lowered blood pressure and heart rate; improved mood, a quieting of the mind. 'The bonus of a second pass for a guest means a caregiver receives a direct benefit as well,' she added. 'Or if not a caregiver, my client has a unique opportunity to offer something to a friend, to share in the experience, and to pursue future opportunities to connect with nature.' Looking Ahead Going forward, Rao envisions the potential expansion of the program. 'Already, we can see that the experience would be even more beneficial if we had the capacity and wherewithal to have regular group classes, a dedicated person to receive guests, or even a resident art therapist. These are dreams we nurse for the future as we garner more support for this program. 'Art prescriptions are best seen not as a one-visit scenario but as a pathway that includes participating in the arts, engagement in self-expression, and social interactions,' he said. 'A recommended 'dosage' would be a minimum of one visit or more per month to an art experience that lasts at least 30 minutes. This is extremely powerful, and we hope that this program can help inspire other arts organizations and medical professionals to collaborate and make such offerings widespread, even normalized.' Fry encourages colleagues globally to think about the untapped resources in their own regions (such as local museums, parks, and cultural spaces) and consider how these environments might serve as extensions of the therapeutic process. 'We don't always need to prescribe medication or a therapy protocol,' she said. 'Sometimes, what helps most is giving someone permission to slow down, to look, to feel, and to connect with nature in all its forms.' Lem pointed out that the new collaboration also aims to inspire more care for the planet. 'Research shows that people who are more connected to nature are more likely to protect it and engage in more pro-environmental behaviors that go beyond biodiversity conservation, like recycling, energy conservation, and voting for decision-makers who prioritize environmental protections,' she said. 'In a world with increasing stress on health professionals due to increasingly challenging practice environments in our offices and hospitals, as well as stresses from outside the healthcare system due to climate change, it feels good to be part of a movement that improves both patient and planetary health,' Lem concluded. Rao, Lem, Toledo, Fry, and Hayto reported having no relevant financial relationships.
