Up to 27 November 2022
You are free to share or publish these articles, as long as you acknowledge the Times Colonist as the source and me as the author.
These three columns give a broad overview of my approach
- 14 Nov 2014 “Health care a small part of true health”
- 28 December 2016 – Health-care reform needed on a grand scale
- 29 December 2016 – Good health lies outside Ministry of Health
My weekly columns are grouped in the following categories:
- General
- Population health promotion
- Healthy cities and communities
- One Planet Regions (Healthy Cities 2.0)
- Healthy built environments
- Transport and health
- Safe communities
- Nature and health
- Health, parks and recreation
- Healthy child development
- Healthy schools
- Healthy universities
- Healthy workplaces
- Healthy hospitals – see under health care system
- Mental health
- Health behaviours
- Arts and health
- Empowerment
- Retirement
- Healthy death
- Indigenous people’s health
- Governance for health
- Economics for health
- Measuring progress
- Social determinants of health
- Poverty and social inequity
- Food
- Housing
- Ecological determinants of health and planetary health
- Climate change
- Pollution and ecotoxicity
- Resource depletion
- Species extinction
- Health care system
- Green health care
- Public health services
- Infectious diseases
- Harm reduction
- Self-care
- Primary care
- Hospitals
- Adverse events/medical error
***********************************************************************
General
- 20 December 2017 – Finding hope at the turning of the year
- 27 December 2017 – My Healthy New Year’s wish list
- 10 January 2018 – Society’s happiness is a serious business
- 17 January 2018 – Misery and health – The diseases of despair
- 8 April 2018 – The wonder drugs we really need
- 5 January 2020 – Key public health issues for the 2020s
- 12 January 2020 – The deepest health challenge of the 2020s (Published as ‘The deepest challenge to our health in 2020’)
- 22 March 2020 – A different perspective on Covid 19
- 10 May 2020 – The other pandemics: The health costs of business as usual
- 27 December 2020 – Is this too much to ask for in 2021? (Published as ‘New Year’s resolutions, and how we choose the right recovery’)
- 16 May 2021 – We need a vaccine against Olympic and fossil fuel insanity
- 18 December 2021 – The midwinter solstice and other turning points
- 6 March 2022 – No health without peace (Published as “Here’s how you can help Ukraine — and the world”)
- 13 March 2022 – Freedom — the real deal versus infantile foot stomping
Population health promotion
- 17 Dec 2014 – What makes us healthy? Hint: It’s not health care
- 15 July 2015 – More should be done to improve male health
- 28 October 2015 – How we keep Canada healthy is a great story
- 16 December 2015 – The turning of the year, coming of the light
- 23 December 2015 – Peace on Earth — and especially at home
- 30 December 2015 – Equity, sustainability needed for health
- 23 March 2016 – Poor, white, angry and unhealthy
- 17 August 2016 – Bouncing forward to a healthier, just future
- 29 December 2016 – Good health lies outside Ministry of Health
- 15 February 2017 – The new public health entrepreneurs
- 2 August 2017 – Public health and the new BC government
- 10 March 2019 – Time to shift the bell curve toward health
- 2 May 2021 – Creating wellbeing – From the personal to the planetary
Healthy cities and communities
- 12 August 2015 – Hope for our health lies in local initiatives
- 3 February 2016 – Village in Borneo taught healthy-city lessons
- 11 February 2016 – Humans are officially an urban species
- 17 February 2016 – Making healthy cities takes holistic approach
- http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/columnists/trevor-hancock-making-healthy-cities-takes-holistic-approach-1.2174424
- 20 July 2016 – Many factors contribute to community’s health
- 27 July 2016 – Healthy-community visions show tranquility
- 3 August 2016 – Sailing safely through the winds of change
- 10 August 2016 – Imagining Victoria as a ‘one-planet’ region
- 27 October 2016 – Cities must be part of UN’s Urban Agenda
- 2 November 2016 – Municipal governments matter most
- 4 January 2017 – Building healthier communities in BC
- 18 January 2017 – Global issues require local thinking, efforts
- 30 August 2017 – Monitoring community well-being is complicated
- 15 March 2020 – The wellbeing of the municipality (Published as ‘Global woes affect local municipalities’)
- 8 November 2020 – Building healthy communities – The social dimension
- 18 July 2021 – The difference between social, supportive and affordable housing
- 25 July 2021 – We need to build ‘gentle infills’ for affordable, healthy neighbourhoods
- 1 August 2021 – Building child-friendly communities means protecting future generations
- 8 August 2021 – Denying net zero is ‘simply not on’
- 10 July 2022 – Creating a more livable region (Published as ‘Public health plays key role in urban planning’)
- 31 July 2022 – Creating a more livable Victoria: Plan neighbourhoods for sustainability and human wellbeing (Published as ‘Urban sprawl not just bad for nature but for health’)
- 14 August 2022 – For a livable Region, we must minimise building waste, energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions (Published as ‘For a livable region, we must minimize building waste and energy consumption)
One Planet Regions (Healthy Cities 2.0)
- 10 August 2016 – Imagining Victoria as a ‘one-planet’ region
- 8 March 2017 – Thirteen municipalities, but only one planet
- 3 June 2018 – Let’s shed a couple of planets’ worth of ecological footprint
- 10 June 2018 – Shedding more light on our growing ecological footprint
- 30 September 2018 – One planet questions for candidates
- 4 November 2018 – The Sidney Summit and the One Planet Region
- 27 January 2019 – Planning to feed a One Planet Region
- 16 June 2019 – Daunting challenges, endless opportunities (Published as ‘The need for change can provide opportunities’)
- 4 August 2019 – One Planet Communities – More than a climate change strategy (Published as ‘One planet’ communities look forward)
- 11 August 2019 – One Planet Saanich – Thinking globally, acting locally (Published as ‘One Planet’ thinks globally, acts locally)
- 19 January 2020 – Small is beautiful — and essential
- 26 January 2020 – The hope of a good Anthropocene (Published as ‘The hope in the good seeds of the Anthropocene)
- 2 February 2020 – Local ‘seeds’ of a One Planet Region
- 9 February 2020 – Seeds of a One Planet Region transportation system (Published as ‘Earth-friendly transportation must be our priority’)
- 16 February 2020 – More Seeds of a One Planet Region (Published as ‘Energy efficiency starts in our homes and workplaces’
- 23 February 2020 – The ethics of a One Planet Region (Published as ‘Our ethical duties to the future’
- 21 June 2020 – We need a One Planet Region strategy
- 5 July 2020 – Let’s govern as if we live on an island
- 12 July 2020 – We need to build our Island self-reliance
- 19 July 2020 – Building a stronger, One Planet regional economy
- 16 August 2020 – Conversations about values for a One Planet Region
- 1 November 2020 – UVic and the Anthropocene (Published as ‘We need a centre focused on creating healthy, just, sustainable communities’)
- 6 December 2020 – Education for life: Creating a more mature society in the 21st century
- 31 October 2021 – Working towards a One Planet Saanich
- 7 November 2021 – Becoming a One Planet Region – Where to begin? (Published as “Becoming a One Planet region starts with food)
- 2 October 2022 – Candidates must think globally while acting locally
Healthy built environments
- 19 Feb 2015 – Designers can influence health, well-being
- 11 November 2015 – Let’s make some noise about all that noise
- 22 November 2017 – Urban sprawl detrimental to public health
- 15 July 2018 – Public health and urban planning are natural partners
- 22 July 2018 – We can create healthy built environments
- 29 July 2018 – Tools for healthier built environments
- 5 August 2018 – Healthy homes – The basics and beyond
- 12 August 2018 – Making homes truly healthy
- 28 October 2018 – What about the right to live in a quiet community?
- 30 June 2019 – Highrises are not the answer (Published as ‘Urban villages can combat ugly sprawl)
Transport and health
- 11 March 2015 – Public transit is good for public health
- 18 March 2015 – Reducing transport would improve health
- 6 April 2016 – Speed injures and it kills, Minister Stone
- 15 November 2017 – Build telecommute centres, not interchanges
- 9 February 2020 – Seeds of a One Planet Region transportation system (Published as ‘Earth-friendly transportation must be our priority’)
- 9 May 2021 – Active transportation is good for mental health
- 7 August 2022 – For a more livable city, invest in cycling, transit, and pedestrian infrastructure
Safe communities
- 26 July – What does it mean to be a safe community?
- 9 August 2017 – Safe communities prevent ‘accidental’ injuries
- 16 August 2017 – More alcohol means more injury
- 23 August 2017 – Prevent violence with compassion
- 26 May 2019 – Why is boxing still not banned?
- 1 September 2019 – Tyler’s story – The price of failure (Published as ‘Report adds up the price of failure)
- 11 September 2022 – Community safety is about more than crime
- 18 September 2022 – Community safety is a wicked problem with no simple solutions
- 25 September 2022 – How to build a safer Greater Victoria (Published as “Community safety is about more than police”)
Nature and health
- 22 April 2015 – Bringing nature to people improves health
- 29 April 2015 – Children need nature; nature needs children
- 6 May 2015 – Arts, nature and well-being are all connected
- 28 September 2016 – Reverence for nature is linked to our health
- 3 January 2018 – Connecting to our past and to nature
- 11 March 2018 – Our health depends on revering, not reviling nature
- 18 March 2018 – Solastalgia: The painful result of reviling of nature
- 4 November 2018 – The Sidney Summit and the One Planet Region
- 16 December 2018 – Solstice a timely reminder of our place in the universe
- 15 December 2019 – Awe and peace: The spiritual value of nature (Published as ‘Recognizing the spiritual value of nature’)
- 23 August 2020 – Making connections, finding balance
- 30 August 2020 – Beginnings, ending and connections (Published as Humans are deeply connected with each other, and other life forms)
- 11 October 2020 – In failing nature, governments fail us
- 20 December 2020 – Tomorrow is Winter Solstice – Happy Solstice! (Published as ‘Solstice a chance to reconnect with nature, the cycle of the seasons)
- 16 October 2022 – “It’s called outside” – We need licensed outdoor childcare (Published as It’s called outside” in print and “Why we need licensed outdoor childcare” online)
Health, parks and recreation
- 24 June 2015 – We are too risk-averse for our own good
Healthy child development
- 1 September 2019 – Tyler’s story – The price of failure (Published as ‘Report adds up the price of failure)
- 8 September 2019 – Tyler’s story – Early support is vital (Published as ‘Early support for children is essential)
- 15 September 2019 – The price of societal neglect of children (Published as ‘The price of society’s neglect of kids’)
- 1 March 2020 – Creating a livable future for our kids
- 8 March 2020 – Standing up to help secure our children’s futures
Healthy schools
Healthy universities
- 2 July 2015 – How healthy are universities and colleges?
- 8 July 2015 – Making our universities and colleges healthy
Healthy workplaces
Healthy hospitals – see under health care system
Mental Health
- 20 September 2017 – Look upstream to improve mental health
- 27 September 2017 – Good mental health needs good start in life
- 4 October 2017 – Creating mentally healthy communities
- 25 March 2018 – Does mental health matter most?
- 19 August 2018 – Loneliness a growing public-health concern
- 6 January 2019 – The intangible gifts that keep on giving
- 24 January 2021- The Great Reconnect — to people and to nature (Published as ‘Post-COVID, we’ll need the Great Reconnect — to people and to nature)
Health behaviours
- 2 December 2018 – Don’t overlook the tobacco addiction epidemic
- 27 October 2019 – How do tobacco execs sleep at night?
Arts and health
- 24 Dec 2014 – Singing together is good for our health
- 6 May 2015 – Arts, nature and well-being are all connected
- 13 May 2015 – Beauty needs to be part of health equality
- 10 June 2015 – Dance your way into a healthy old age
Empowerment
- 2 March 2016 – Good health depends upon empowerment
- 9 March 2016 – Empowerment for health as simple as ABCD
- 16 March 2016 – Lessons from Brazil about empowerment
Retirement
- 25 May 2016 – Retiring at age 65 might not be best for you
- 1 June 2016 – Is retirement a healthy choice? That depends
- 8 June 2016 – Early retirement can lead to an earlier death
Healthy death
- 11 Feb 2015 – To die a healthy death is not an oxymoron
- 11 May 2016 – Healthy death and palliative-care physicians
- 22 March 2017 – Communities support those who are dying
Indigenous people and health
- 17 June 2015 – Resilience and the health of First Nations
- 30 March 2016 – We have time to learn from history
- 9 November 2016 – An invasive species: Who, me?
- 23 June 2019 – Indigenous perspectives on health (Published as ‘The benefits of a holistic approach to health’)
- 17 January 2021 – Indigenous people and the stewardship of nature (Published as ‘We need to learn from Indigenous people how to be stewards of nature’)
- 13 June 2021 – What happened in Kamloops was part of a national crime
- 4 July 2021 – Oh Kanata: Time for a new flag and a new name?
- 9 October 2022 – First Nations agreed to share the land, not give it up
Governance for health
- 31 Dec 2014 – A health resolution for the B.C. government
- 29 November 2017 – Many ministries could be Ministry of Health
- 15 April 2015 – ‘Whole government’ health approach needed
- 20 May 2015 – Note for politicians: First, do no harm
- 3 June 2015 – Taxes are the price we pay for civilization
- 19 August 2015 – How about health as an election issue?
- 26 August 2015 – Human well-being should come first
- 2 September 2015 – Policies should focus on basic needs
- 9 September 2015 – Good health requires environmental security
- 16 September 2015 – Taxation should maximize human wellbeing
- 14 October 2015 – Push parties for health, human development
- 21 October 2015 – Beyond voting, democracy is good for health
- 27 April 2016 – Manifesto is leaping into a healthier future
- 4 May 2016 – Trans-Pacific agreement bad for our health
- 23 November 2016 – Trump’s ‘ignore-ance’ will harm our health
- 15 March 2017 – Toward a BC framework for wellbeing
- 14 June 2017 – BC should protect our future wellbeing
- 21 June 2017 – Let’s plan with the seventh generation in mind
- 5 July 2017 – If we want to save lives, control alcohol
- 19 July 2017 – We are being marketed to death
- 18 October 2017 – Seeking common vision and common action
- 29 November 2017 – Many ministries could be Ministry of Health
- 6 Dec 2017 – Other Ministries should focus on health
- 13 December 2017 – The business of government in the 21st century
- 24 January 2018 – Pandora’s box and the Canada Pension Plan
- 18 February 2018 – Doing well, but doing much harm
- 2 September 2018 – Our systems inevitably lead to bad choices
- 9 September 2018 – We don’t pay the full cost of goods and services
- 16 September 2018- Change the values that shape our systems
- 23 September 2018 – Systematic denial harms our health
- 30 September 2018 – One planet questions for candidates
- 25 November 2018 – Hold politicians accountable for ‘ignore-ance’
- 3 March 2019 – Governance failures behind our Silent Spring
- 24 March 2019 – Senate needs to protect our health and environment
- 31 March 2019 – Futures thinking can pay off
- 7 April 2019 – We face alternative health futures
- 14 April 2019 – ‘Anticipatory democracy’ for a healthier future for all
- 28 April 2019 – Time to think beyond the next election
- 5 May 2019 – Move from denial to protest to building better mousetraps
- 2 June 2019 – Green New Deal a pact for the future
- 22 September 2019 – Our health should be an election issue
- 13 October 2019 – Elect a health and wellbeing government
- 20 October 2019 – A lunatic mainstream, or a sensible fringe?
- 3 November 2019 – It’s time to be responsible ancestors
- 22 December 2019 – We’re spending our kids inheritance
- 29 December 2019 – We need faith in a sustainable future (Published as ‘Faith in a sustainable future is vital)
- 19 January 2020 – Small is beautiful — and essential
- 1 March 2020 – Creating a livable future for our kids
- 29 March 2020 – Resilience means bouncing forward, not back to the way we were before
- 5 April 2020 – Vital lessons from the pandemic for the future
- 12 April 2020 – A tale of two futures: Let’s choose the right one this time
- 19 April 2020 – Roar radically forward, not back to a pathological system
- 3 May 2020 – Social tipping points and virtuous cascades
- 14 May 2020 – BC needs a green, just and healthy recovery
- 17 May 2020 – Making a just transition to ‘One Planet’
- 24 May 2020 – How to flatten the other curves
- 31 May 2020 – Coming together or coming apart? (Published as ‘How the U.S. lost touch with its founders’)
- 7 June 2020 – Towards a healthy economic recovery
- 9 August 2020 – Shouldn’t we be talking about this? (Published as ‘Governments ignore urgent issue’)
- 22 November 2020 – Learning from Scotland about our Common Home and our wellbeing (Published as ‘C. should follow the lead of Scotland and bring in a well-being budget’)
- 29 November 2020 – Cultural evolution and value shift – Towards a sustainable, just and healthy future (Published as ‘What if we base decisions on what’s good for nature and community?’)
- 13 December 2020 – The cult of individualism is toxic
- 21 March 2021 – Practising democracy as if the future mattered
- 28 March 2021 – Creating communities fit for the 21st century
- 11 April 2021 – No, Victoria Council is not the devil incarnate
- 18 April 2021 – Memo to John Horgan: Don’t blow it for the next generation
- 25 April 2021 – BC’s Throne Speech and budget fail future generations
- 27 June 2021 – Stop subsidies to ‘corporate welfare bums’ that harm our health
- 29 August 2021 – Neither left nor right, but ahead — why the Greens are different
- 19 September 2021 – No matter who wins, we could all lose
- 10 October 2021 – ‘System-wide transformation’ needed to rebalance ourselves with nature
- 2 January 2022 – All I want for the New Year is . . .
- 9 January 2022 – Let’s not make the next 50 years a repeat of the last
- 16 January 2022 – Health requires a well-being society
- 23 January 2022 – What is a ‘well-being society’? For starters, one that values planet Earth
- 13 February 2022 – A Wellbeing society requires achieving equitable health (Published as “When it comes to health, inequality is inevitable, but inequity isn’t”)
- 4 September 2022 – Don’t blame Victoria for other governments’ failures
Economics for health
- 27 May 2015 – Good health requires different economics
- 27 January 2016 – Profit should not come before public health
- 20 April 2016 – Gambling brings social, economic inequality
- 7 December 2016 – Jobs v the environment – The health angle
- 11 January 2017 – Making money while creating health
- 7 June 2017 – From endless growth to a steady state
- 9 December 2018 – Charity is big – but is that a good thing?
- 9 June 2019 – At last – a Wellbeing Budget (Published as ‘New Zealand leads the way by focusing on quality of life’)
- 10 November 2019 – Economic growth is malignant
- 17 November 2019 – Economic growth isn’t necessary for good health
- 28 June 2020 – Neoliberalism is a major threat to wellbeing
- 26 July 2020 – Guy Dauncey and the economics of kindness
- 2 August 2020 – A new ecological civilization: How do we get there?
- 31 January 2021 – True prosperity is doughnut-shaped
- 7 February 2021 – Achieving high human potential is true prosperity
- 14 February 2021 – Nature’s high price and inestimable value (Published as ‘Our economic system needs to recognize the price – and value – of nature’)
- 21 February 2021 – What would it mean to recognize the price and value of nature?
- 7 March 2021 – Circles and Doughnuts – The local economy we need (Published as ‘Circular economy doesn’t go far enough’)
- 14 March 2021 – A Doughnut economy for Victoria (Published as ‘Doughnut economy means not spending $100M on interchange’)
- 11 April 2021 – Circling the new local economy (Published as ‘Circling the new local economy with the six R’s)
- 11 July 2021 – Sorry about the Earth, but we need to make money
- 30 January 2022 – A well-being society needs a well-being economy
- 6 February 2022 – Towards a Wellbeing economy for Canada (Published as “GDP needs to be replaced with more meaningful indicators”)
- 20 March 2022 – Freedom for the sharks, not the minnows (Published as “Freedom from regulation helps sharks at the expense of minnows”)
- 27 March 2022 – Redistributing power, money and resources will improve wellbeing (Published as “A progressive tax on all forms of wealth would reduce inequality”)
- 12 June 2022 – We persist with unsustainable development (Published as “Conventional economic growth is unsustainable”)
Measuring progress
- 28 Jan 2015 – GDP is not a useful measure of well-being
- 4 Feb 2015 – There’s more to progress than the GDP
- 4 November 2015 – Measuring what matters in BC
- 1 April 2018 – We need progress on Genuine Progress
Social determinants of health
- 6 September 2017 – Why did Mary die: Dig deep to find causes
Poverty and social inequity
- 7 Jan 2015 – – We simply can’t afford the costs of poverty
- 6 July 2016 – Poverty serious detriment to public health
- 14 December 2016 – Governments fail to provide necessaries of life
- 25 January 2017 – When inequality becomes unacceptable
- 29 March 2017 – BC’s pro-poverty policy is sickening and costly
- 5 April 2017 – ‘Mincome’ is pro-health and against poverty
- 12 April 2017 – Child poverty is outrageous and unhealthy
- 6 October 2019 – Poverty and health is an election issue (Published as ‘Let’s take poverty and health seriously)
- 24 November 2019 – Economic growth won’t fix poverty
- 1 December 2019 – Poverty and the Olympian fallacy
- 8 March 2020 – Standing up to help secure our children’s futures
- 20 February 2022 – High levels of inequality incompatible with a Wellbeing society
- 27 February 2022 – Increased inequality was a political choice we must reverse
Food
- 14 Jan 2015 – BC should guarantee right to food security
- 25 March 2015 – Portion size: The elephant in the room
- 23 September 2015 – Agriculture policy should include health
- 6 January 2016 – Let’s put healthy food on conference table
- 13 July 2016 – Food policy must address the issue of meat
- 21 December 2016 – Good news on the Good Food front
- 1 March 2017 – Healthy corner stores – well, why not?
- 12 July 2017 – Protect our kids from unhealthy advertising
- 27 January 2019 – Planning to feed a One Planet Region
Housing
- 18 July 2021 – The difference between social, supportive and affordable housing
- 10 April 2022 – Victoria’s new housing policies will benefit health (Published as “Speeding development of non-profit housing is good for health)
- 3 July 2022 – Enough with the nastiness and dehumanization (Published as “Let’s stop calling people ‘bums’ or ‘undesirables’)
- 17 July 2022 – Creating a more livable region: Rapid development of social housing (Published as ‘Social-housing crisis stems from 1993 federal cuts’)
- 24 July 2022 – Creating a more livable region: Build an abundance of housing (Published as ‘If you want an abundance of housing, don’t micro-manage’)
Ecological determinants of health and planetary health
- 21 Jan 2015 – Our health depends upon a healthy planet
- 22 July 2015 – Planetary health is the 21st-century challenge
- 29 July 2015 – Accelerating changes are bad for health
- 5 August 2015 – Sustainable development benefits our health
- 13 April 2016 – We must say no to old-paradigm solutions
- 10 August 2016 – Imagining Victoria as a ‘one-planet’ region
- 1 February 2017 – Nature is speaking, but are we listening?
- 8 February 2017 – Our descendants need protection from us
- 8 March 2017 – Thirteen municipalities, but only one planet
- 28 June 2017 – My life in the Anthropocene
- 11 February 2018 – Alberta proclaims its right to pollute
- 4 March 2018 – Is the Kinder Morgan pipeline a health hazard in B.C.?
- 15 April 2018 – It’s in national, global interest to stop Kinder Morgan pipeline
- 3 June 2018 – Let’s shed a couple of planets’ worth of ecological footprint
- 10 June 2018 – Shedding more light on our growing ecological footprint
- 17 June 2018 – Meeting SDGs in Greater Victoria
- 30 June 2018 – Finding hope for the future
- 8 July 2018 – Population growth only part of our ecological problem
- 18 November 2018 – The environment should be front-page news
- 23 December 2018 – Peace with the Earth, goodwill to all our relations
- 30 December 2018 – A New Year, a (Green) New Deal?
- 3 February 2019 – Many global health threats linked to global change
- 17 February 2019 – Why we still need to love this planet
- 16 June 2019 – Daunting challenges, endless opportunities (Published as ‘The need for change can provide opportunities’)
- 28 July 2019 – Ooops, we have overshot the Earth’s capacity
- 4 August 2019 – One Planet Communities – More than a climate change strategy (Published as ‘One planet’ communities look forward)
- 11 August 2019 – One Planet Saanich – Thinking globally, acting locally (Published as ‘One Planet’ thinks globally, acts locally)
- 1 March 2020 – Creating a livable future for our kids
- 12 April 2020 – A tale of two futures: Let’s choose the right one this time
- 13 September 2020 – The four horsemen of ecology
- 20 September 2020 – And still the sheep look up (Published as 50-year-old sci-fi novel eerily prescient)
- 27 September – Social, not ecological factors control our population
- 12 November 2020 – We are an ocean province, let’s act like one
- 3 January 2021 – Making peace with nature is the defining task of the 21st century (Published as ‘To heal the planet, we need to embrace solutions that are already here’)
- 10 January 2021 – Human development as if the planet mattered (Published as ‘Canada’s heavy ecological footprint hurts its human-development ranking’)
- 28 February 2021 – War and peace with nature (Published as ‘When we wage war on nature, we wage war on ourselves’)
- 18 April 2021 – Memo to John Horgan: Don’t blow it for the next generation
- 20 June 2021 – Who has the right to cut old growth
- 5 September 2021 – The planet-sized elephant in the election room
- 12 September 2021 – The right to a healthy environment is a vital election issue
- 26 September 2021 – The global ecological crisis is also a global health crisis (Published as ‘Measures to tackle climate change bring health benefits, too’)
- 3 October 2021 – How do we make peace with nature?
- 24 October 2021 – Sadly, BC is still waging war on nature (Published as ‘Sadly, B.C. is still treating nature as resource to be exploited”)
- 14 November 2021 – Doctors and nurses declare a climate and ecological ‘Code Red’ for BC (Published as “Doctors and nurses declare a climate Code Red for B.C.”)
- 5 December 2021 – Mother Nature has shown us that ‘business as usual’ is a disaster
- 12 December 2021 – Black Friday is bad for the planet and our wellbeing
- 3 April 2022 – WHO’s focus on planetary health is timely
- 5 June 2022 – Fifty years after Stockholm, it wasn’t supposed to be this way
- 19 June 2022 – We are falling behind in a world going backwards
- 21 August 2022– The world is not ending, but humanity has a problem
- 28 August 2022 – Decline and collapse unpalatable, but not implausible
- 23 October 2022 – Earth for all, not just for some
- 30 October 2022 – Earth for All: Fair shares for the rest of humanity (Published as The human and environmental cost of growth-obsessed ‘extractivism’)
- 20 Nov 2022 – Ecological sanity and social justice — we can’t have one without the other
Climate change
- 4 Mar 2015 – Climate change poses severe health risks
- 29 June 2016 – Assess health impact of our energy systems
- 24 August 2016 – Pipeline expansion must be rejected for health reasons
- 5 October 2016 – Governments fail the climate math test
- 24 June 2018 – Carbon tax is good for our health
- 30 June 2018 – Finding hope for the future
- 8 July 2018 – Population growth only part of our ecological problem
- 7 October 2018 – Political heads buried in the (tar)sand
- 10 February 2019 – Local councils are right to sue fossil fuel industry
- 21 April 2019 – Neros are fiddling while Earth burns
- 18 August 2019 – Facts matter in discussing fossil fuels
- 25 August 2019 – Distorting climate science is bad for our health (Published as ‘Distorting science is bad for our health’)
- 6 September 2020 – Stop using taxpayers’ money to fund pollution
- 4 October 2020 – Counting down the climate clock
- 6 June 2021 – Climate change, young people and the courts (Published as ‘On climate, it’s short-term pain for long-term gain, backed by courts’)
- 15 August 2021 – If we lose the carbon sinks, we are sunk
- 22 August 2021 – BC.’s ‘natural gas’ is both unnatural and unhealthy
- 17 October 2021 – BC fails to take adequate action on climate crisis
- 17 April 2022 – Are our governments dangerous radicals or merely mad?
- 24 April 2022 – B.C. government’s LNG infatuation makes it dangerously radical
- 22 May 2022 – The problem of natural and industrial carbon bombs (Published as “When Canada permits loss of marshes, forests, it’s a carbon bomber”)
- 29 May 2022 – We must defuse our industrial carbon bombs
- 26 June 2022 – What is the real crime here, who are the real criminals?
- 28 July 2022 – What a legacy! Thank you, fossil fuel industry
- 6 November – As UN climate summit begins, not much good news, but room for hope
- 13 November 2022 – Canada must stop digging a deeper climate-crisis hole
- 27 November 2022 – Why can’t we use the ‘F’ words?
Pollution and ecotoxicity
- 25 October 2017 – Protecting health in our chemical society
- 1 November 2017 – Pollution and health: A neglected issue
- 8 November 2017 – Pollution is not inevitable cost of prosperity
- 26 August 2018 – Better living through green chemistry
- 24 February 2019 – Silent Spring is getting closer
- 15 November 2020 – Zero Waste means not expanding Hartland Landfill
Resource depletion
- 18 October 2020 – Our forests are more than mere resources
- 25 October 2020 – Our fisheries are as badly managed as our forests
Species extinction
- 22 June 2016 – Loss of biodiversity is a public-health emergency
- 9 November 2016 – An invasive species: Who, me?
- 10 November 2018 – We are making Earth spineless
- 29 September 2019 – Extinction a worthy election issue
- 8 December 2019 – First they came for the whales . . .
- 14 June 2020 – Just which predator needs to be controlled?
- 23 May 2021 – Once-proud BC. is now a biodiversity-loss hotspot
- 30 May 2021 – BC flunks international biodiversity targets
Health care system
- 1 April 2015 – Putting the health in health care
- 13 January 2016 – Our health system should fund dental care
- http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/columnists/trevor-hancock-our-health-system-should-fund-dental-care-1.2149542
- 20 January 2016 – Ministers: Turn the health system on its head
- 24 February 2016 – Weak and muddled thinking on MSP premium
- 7 September 2016 – We need to protect our health-care system
- 14 September 2016 – Health-care system doesn’t work as a system
- 21 September – Make nurse practitioners a campaign pledge
- 16 November 2016 – The secret of medicine is masterly inactivity
- 28 December 2016 – Health-care reform needed on a grand scale
- 13 January 2019 – Island Health must focus on how we live
Green health care
- 2 December 2015 – Health-care facilities reduce harm to planet
- 21 November 2021 – Practising health care as if the planet matters
- 28 November 2021 – Practising planetary health care in B.C. (Published as “Practising planetary health care in B.C. starts with hospital food waste)
Public health services
- 25 Feb 2015 – Be grateful for the pleasures of the flush
- 7 October 2015 – We should lift the siege on public health
- 12 October 2016 – Public needs independent health officers
- 19 October 2016 – What happened to an ounce of prevention?
- 13 September 2017 – Public health should not be part of health care
- 22 April 2018 -Public health is biased, and you should be glad
- 19 May 2019 – Why don’t governments care about public health?
Infectious diseases
- 26 April 2020 – Donald Trump’s crime against humanity
Harm reduction
- 30 September 2015 – The ‘Great War’ on drugs: Time for a re-think
- 18 May 2016 – Opioid deaths are a massive ethical failure
- 30 November 2016 – National inquiry is needed on opioid crisis
- 25 February 2018 – Looking upstream at the opioid crisis
Self-care
- 8 April 2015 – Self-care most neglected part of health system
- 20 January 2019 – Province needs to invest in self-care
Primary care
- 21 September 2016 – Make nurse practitioners a campaign pledge
- 23 February 2017 – Primary care is the heart of healthcare
- 19 April 2017 – Reverse 45 years of neglect of health centres
- 11 October 2017 – Should we try social prescribing?
- 4 February 2018 – Family doctors deserve more of our respect
- 7 July 2019 – Fixing primary care?- Focus on the demand
- 14 July 2019 – Fixing primary care? Create a prevention strategy (Published as ‘A prevention strategy can fix primary care’)
- 21 July 2019 – Fixing primary care – Help people help themselves and others
Hospitals
- 18 November 2015 – Hospitals should be model healthy settings
- 25 November 2015 – Can our hospitals be healing environments?
- 2 December 2015 – Health-care facilities reduce harm to planet
- 9 December 2015 – Few Canadian hospitals are ‘baby-friendly’
Adverse events/medical error
- 15 June 2016 – Medical error is a public-health emergency
- 16 November 2016 – The secret of medicine is masterly inactivity
- 30 November 2016 – National inquiry is needed on opioid crisis
Dr. Trevor Hancock - Healthy people, healthy communities, a healthy planet 