Climate Care Program – December Update
As we head towards the festive season our team is excited to announce the Climate Care Program will be launching February 2023! This will be the culmination of more than 18 months work developing the program which has been made possible by the support of many dedicated and experienced volunteers. In particular we’d like to acknowledge the contributions from Dr Mariane Morin, Jane Bindloss, Dr Jeremy Watson, Dr Mila Kasby, Terry George, Dr Annaliese Johnson and Dr Silvana Conillo who’ve travelled the CCP journey with us this year (you can read more about them here).
- Evaluating our impact
- Greater Springfield Vets saving water success!
- Vet Expo – it’s a wrap
- Climate and sustainability news
- Common waste streams in vet practice
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VfCA updates
EVALUATING OUR IMPACT
Over the last few months, VfCA has engaged the services of an external consultant to conduct an evaluation of the preliminary launch (pilot) phase of the program. The evaluation uses feedback and data collected from the 21 program participants and other relevant stakeholders to assess the program's impact according to its desired purpose, outputs, and outcomes.
Recommendations from the evaluation will provide vital information as we put the final touches on the program prior to launching. Soon we’ll be able to share with you a summary of the results. In the meantime, we'd like to share with you a handful of testimonials we've gathered from our pilot clinics. Needless to say our team is super chuffed to read this positive feedback...
CELEBRATING SUCCESS
As a participating clinic in our preliminary launch, Greater Springfield Veterinary Hospital in QLD has been seeing great results following the implementation of new tricks and tools to save water. Their Climate Champion and program support team recently reported a reduction in their average daily water consumption by 278 litres per day (that's 32%)! Check out their short video to see the small changes they've made to achieve big things. Well done team.
NEWS & EVENTS
The Vet Expo – it's a wrap!It was a positive and productive couple of days attending The Vet Expo in Sydney during October. Thanks to everyone who dropped by our stand to say “hi” and have a chat to our staff and volunteers – we were so pleased to hear about the interest and enthusiasm for the CCP and we made lots of beneficial connections.
Dr Mariane Morin spoke beautifully about the Climate Care Program and Dr Jeremy Watson about his experience creating Australia's first carbon neutral veterinary hospital (both CCP program volunteers). Board Chair Jeannet Kessels took to the stage to talk to the profession about the importance of getting to net zero and Deputy Chair Dr Angela Frimberger delivered a keynote speech on how climate change impacts animals.
In case you missed it… climate and sustainability news
- REDcycle temporarily pauses its soft plastic collection service
- Terracycle and Royal Canine have partnered to create a free national recycling program
- Terracycle and Open Farm have partnered to create a free pet food bag recycling program
- Zoetis launches recycling initiative to support dairy farmers in the fight against waste
- The SA State Government announces an ambitious roadmap to expand the South Australian ban on single-use plastics over the next 3 years
- The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Amendment (Climate Trigger) Bill on our behalf! View our submission and others
- Climate change Loss and Damage Fund established at COP27
- Australia’s first Annual Climate Change Statement delivered by Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen
- Climate Council: What you need to know about the first ever annual Climate Change Statement
DO YOU KNOW...
... what the most common waste streams are in vet practice?
Check out our infographic which also includes a suggested range of solutions – from easy to medium to gold star achievement. If you think you have the 'easy' options covered, ask yourself "is everyone using these options all (or most of) the time?" And if the answer is "no", a good first step would be to make sure your whole team is doing these basic things correctly before moving on to more challenging solutions.
More information about how to implement these solutions can be found in the No Time to Waste module of the CCP.
UPDATES FROM VFCA
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Vets for Climate Action now has DGR status! This means every donation over $2 is tax deductible! If you’d like to support VfCA to continue to be the voice for all animals, simply click here.
- VfCA Annual Report 2021-2022. Hot off the press! Read more.
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VfCA Strategic Plan 2023-2026. We recently released our new 3-year Strategic Plan with four key focus areas: Educate, Collaborate, Trusted Advisor, Governance. Read more about our plans for the future!
Help us spread the word... If you know others who are yet to register their interest in the program, let them know they can sign up via our website to be kept up to date on the latest program information – including launch announcements.
And be sure to follow Vets for Climate Action on our social media channels!
Finally, we’d like to wish you all a happy and safe festive season. Please note the VfCA virtual office will be closed from 5pm Thurs 22 December and will reopen on Wed 3 January. We look forward to you continuing the Climate Care journey with us in 2023 and beyond.
Regards and best wishes,
The Climate Care Program Team