The Planetary Health = Personal Health Mural
““Climate Change is a Public Health Emergency.””
We really want to shout out to the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) as an inspiration for our first mural!
The incredible work that the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment has put in for years, is an inspiration!
We are lucky enough to have (virtually) interviewed Dr. Messlia Lam who is the CAPE Incoming President in 2021! Dr. Melissa Lem is a family physician in Vancouver and in rural and remote areas of Canada. Her writings on the environment and human well-being have also been published by national media including the Vancouver Sun, Toronto Star, Montreal Gazette, National Observer, and Alternatives Journal.
In this series, she explains how important our planet’s health is for our own personal health. There is more of Dr. Melissa Lam on our Instagram!
The Planetary Health = Personal Health Mural was the first piece completed in the Mural Campaign. We did not know where to start, what the mural could look like, or how to incorporate positive climate solutions, WW2 inspiration from Seth Klein's A Good War, and art. We wanted to also incorporate the government's promise of planting 2 billion trees by 2030 in Canada to hold their promise accountable.
We are so appreciative of the opportunity to work with Jessica Gorlicky and her team to bring this mural to life. Living on the main exterior wall of CSI Spadina, the use of bright coloured trees, children holding signs of power, and soldiers planting a tree instead of a flag as originally depicted in Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, demonstrates our shift from fighting a war, to fighting for our Planetary and Personal Health! Also, a special thank you to Dee’s Printing which provided the prints and vinyls for this piece to come together!
Special Thank You to Jess, Miguel, and Mel & the CSI Spadina!
For our very first mural in the Mural Campaign, Jessica and her team did a fabulous job making our goal into a reality! The work with spray paint, -10-degree weather, and in the middle of the pandemic were challenging however, they were able to add colour, awareness, and bring positive climate solutions to the streets of Spadina!
Centre of Social Innovation & Climate Ventures inspires a belief that solutions are possible. We invite everyone, from all sectors and backgrounds, to be a part of the solution because we know that it’s up to us to create a better world. We believe that change happens when people decide to make a difference. We don’t sit back and wait for things to get better. We’re shaping the world now.