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Welcome to Talking Climate with Katherine Hayho. Each episode, we explore how climate change is affecting the people, places, and things we love and what we can do to make a difference. From science to solutions and stories that inspire, you're in the right place for real talk about real change. This week we're talking about emission-cutting hospital menus, warming oceans, reducing omega-3s, and greening your cafeteria. Let's dive in. Good news. I don't know about you, but my experience of hospital food in both Canada and the U.S. has been disappointing, to say the least. So that's why I was so surprised by a new study describing how a team at Vancouver General Hospital decided to rethink what it served patients, testing whether a more healthy and delicious menu could be better for the planet, too. Together, celebrity chef Ned Bill, dietitians, doctors, and food service staff created, taste tested, and added 18 new recipes to the hospital menu. Their new planetary health menu contained less animal protein and more plants, including coconut chickpea curry with cauliflower and cashews, a Korean gochujang bowl, turkey bolenese pasta, and steelhead trout with tomato miso dressing. Yum. The payoff? Food-related emissions fell by 39%, and patients liked it. 84% rated the new dishes satisfying, and the menu delivered more fiber, calcium, and folate than before. The approach has now spread to more than 20 hospitals in British Columbia, according to Zha Ying Zha, one of the study's authors and a professor of psychology and sustainability at the University of British Columbia, who also happens to be the author of the next book on my reading pile, Leave the Lights on How Joyful Decisions Can Save Our Species. Hospitals serve an enormous number of meals every day. If healthcare can pull this off, don't you think a school cafeteria could too? Not so good news. These essential fats contribute healthy eyes, brains, and hearts, and they help with many other issues from skin conditions to chronic inflammation. Fish is also the lowest carbon source of animal protein. But a new review finds that as our oceans warm, marine life may contain less omega-3s and more omega-6s, which we already typically get enough of. How? It starts at the bottom of the food web. Marine algae are among the only organisms that can make these fats at all. Everything else, from crabs to tuna to us, gets them second or third hand. In warmer water, algae cells have to work harder to hold their shape, so they trade flexible omega-3s for stiffer saturated fats. As the oceans warm, omega-3s in algae fell by 8 to 34%, and saturated fats rose by 10 to 22%, with the steepest changes at the highest temperatures. And because every creature in the ocean is ultimately eating what algae produces, that shortfall doesn't stay at the bottom. It travels up through the plankton, the shellfish, and the fish. Across every group the researchers looked at, the ratio of omega-3s to omega-6s fell as ocean waters warmed. What you can do. At school, at work, at church, and more. Those kitchens serve more food in a week than any of us will cook in a year. This makes them one of the best places to change what ends up on the plate. The hospitals above were open to adopting a plant-rich menu that cut emissions dramatically while improving nutrition and keeping patients happy. How? Because someone asked. So this week, find out who plans the menu where your kids go to school, where you work, or where you worship, and ask them whether they've looked at adding more plant-rich and lower carbon options. Sarah Dosange did just this when she was a senior in Milpittus High in California, helping convince her school district to add plant-based entrees the following year. These examples show that you don't need a plan, a budget, or a title to get things started. You just need to be the person who asks. And you don't have to do it alone either. Organizations like Greener by Default and Cool Food already exist to help institutions make this shift. Thanks for listening to Talking Climate, narrated by Ann Cloud. Post-production and mix by John Crowley at Loudmouth Studio. For more resources, links, and actions you can take, check out the full newsletter at www.talkingclimate.ca. Until next time, keep talking climate.
