Start small: What you can do

Image depicts a tree with leaves that have ideas for how to be more environmentally conscious in practice

What can you do?

Pick one thing, somewhere you feel you can start. Small actions can have a big impact! It is not the role of one individual to tackle everything and what you are able to do may wax and wane, that’s normal. Share what you are doing with your peers to promote climate action in occupational therapy and help make it less intimidating!

  1. Amplify Indigenous voices speaking out about climate change and sharing wisdom on sustainability
    • Place-based learning from Indigenous knowledge keepers local to your area
    • Learn from Indigenous occupational therapists such as the Indigenous OT collective
  2. Reflect on how to responsibly prescribe equipment
    • Consider what your client needs and what they will use, and don’t prescribe equipment that isn’t necessary
      • This also saves the system money, and can keep clients safe by reducing equipment clutter [2]
    • Where possible, promote circularity/reuse of adaptive equipment, such as mobility devices, orthoses, prostheses, etc. [3]
      • This involves client education on how to sustainably manage used equipment [4]
  3. Incorporate the use of telehealth
    • Consider when it may be equally or more appropriate to meet with clients virtually (for example, when you or they would have a long or challenging trip) [5]
  4. Consider the corporate merchandise you produce, give out, or accumulate
    • Is it useful? Is it climate-friendly? Is it durable? [6]
  5. Get involved with advocacy groups
    • OT-specific (ie OT-CAN), healthcare specific, or environmental health-related
    • Advocate for policy changes that support sustainable practices
  6. Seek out additional educational opportunities on sustainability practices in health care
    • ie the programs offered by CASCADES Canada, such as Introduction to Sustainable Health Systems, a 90-minute introductory course [7]
    • Attend OT-CAN’s monthly meetup [8]
  7. Understand, voice and educate on the role of climate change in contributing to various health conditions and occupational disruption or deprivation
    • These include mental health, increased rates of disease, the occupational consequences of extreme weather events and disruptions to food systems [9]
  8. Familiarize yourself with your employer’s sustainability plan
    • This can provide opportunities to get involved with the team or to suggest ways that your practice could be supported to become more sustainable
  9. Look for sustainable alternatives for tools used in your area of practice
    • Look into biodegradable or reusable options for therapy tools or PPE [10, 11]
    • Seek out locally made items or items made of recycled materials [12]
    • Opt for emailing resources as appropriate instead of printing
  10. Adopt a sustainability framework or model as part of your practice [13]
    • OneHealth: [14]
      • “A collaborative, multi-sectoral, and transdisciplinary approach that takes into account the interconnectedness between humans, animals, plants, and the environment. Aimed at achieving optimal health outcomes by taking into consideration the interaction between humans and the environment” [15]
    • Environmentally informed occupational therapy, EIOT: [16]
      • “An approach to occupational therapy founded in the growing body of scientific evidence that demonstrates that what is good for the environment is good for human health and well-being. It looks to nature to inform interventions and helps occupational therapists support their clients, students and communities to make lifestyle choices that contribute to their personal health while protecting and ideally enhancing the environment” [16] 
    • Modified Instrumentalism in Occupational Therapy, MIOT
      • “The MIOT is an occupation-based framework for individual empowerment which is based on the pragmatic notion that the mind (and ideas or intellectual activities of the mind, including scientific investigation) is an instrument to help humans shape the environment to ensure that it is suitable for their survival” [17]
      • Occupation-based theoretical conceptual practice models, such as the MIOT, have the potential to increase awareness of the connection between human occupational behaviour and global issues, including climate change, and facilitate occupational behaviour change in such a way that the issues are changed for the better.” [18]
    • Intergenerational occupational justice framework: [19]
      • “Are all occupational desires legitimate if their realization is incompatible with the preservation of ecosystems? How do the occupational choices we make today impact the occupational rights of future generations? Can we, and if so how do we, enable people to engage in sustainable occupations? . . . While the basic occupational needs of human beings demand to be satisfied in order to ensure survival and fulfillment, to ensure the occupational rights of future generations of human beings, and thus meet their basic occupational needs, we have a duty to reconsider our occupational desires and choices” [19]
    • The United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [20]
  11. Work with clients to create environmentally sustainable, climate-resilient occupations
    • The World Federation of Occupational Therapists’ 2012 position paper on environmental sustainability says that “It is vital that occupational therapists work, in their core role centring on occupation and occupational performance, towards environmental sustainability within the profession and collaboratively with clients and communities”, and “encourages occupational therapists working with clients wishing to live more sustainable lives to promote environmentally sustainable occupational performance and lifestyles” [21]
    • For specific suggestions, see “Methods to Achieve Sustainability in Practice” in Smith et al., 2020 [22], or “Occupational therapy’s contributions to combating climate change and lifestyle diseases” (Garcia Diaz & Richardson, 2023) [23]

Many of these strategies are not only climate-friendly, but in the long run can also allow for more client-centered and cost-effective care!

Check out these vignettes of clinical examples created by OTEA!

Check out the vignettes

References: 

  1. Du, J., Bird, A., Boniface, G., Boniface, J., & Mortenson, W. B. (2025). The Perceived Role of Occupational Therapists in Climate Change. Canadian journal of occupational therapy. Revue canadienne d’ergotherapie, 92(1), 60–70. https://doi.org/10.1177/00084174241259304 
  2. Sim, S., Barr, C. J., & George, S. (2015). Comparison of equipment prescriptions in the toilet/bathroom by occupational therapists using home visits and digital photos, for patients in rehabilitation. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 62(2), 132–140. https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1630.12121
  3. Bateman, E. A., Fortin, C. D., Ghuman, A., Neferu, R., & Guo, M. (2024). Planetary Health in Rehabilitation: A Call to Arms… and Legs, Gait Aids, and Other Equipment. American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitation, 104(1), 66–69. https://doi.org/10.1097/PHM.0000000000002643 
  4. Ordway, A., Pitonyak, J. S., & Johnson, K. L. (2018). Durable medical equipment reuse and recycling: uncovering hidden opportunities for reducing medical waste. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 15(1), 21–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/17483107.2018.1508516 
  5. Choosing Wisely Canada. Choosing Wisely & Climate Action. https://choosingwiselycanada.org/climate/
  6. Cysewski, L. (2023, September 18). Five Simple Rules To Avoid Greenwashing Your Corporate Gifts. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesbusinesscouncil/2023/09/18/five-simple-rules-to-avoid-greenwashing-your-corporate-gifts/ 
  7. CASCADES. Introduction to sustainable health systems. https://cascadescanada.ca/training/asynchronouscourse/ 
  8. OT-CAN on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.ie/o/occupational-therapy-climate-action-network-ot-can-69067148273 
  9. World Health Organization. (2023, October 12). Climate change. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health 
  10. Fathy, R., Nelson, C. A., & Barbieri, J. S. (2020). Combating climate change in the clinic: Cost-effective strategies to decrease the carbon footprint of outpatient dermatologic practice. International journal of women’s dermatology, 7(1), 107–111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijwd.2020.05.015 
  11. Walsh, L. J. (2024). Reusable Personal Protective Equipment Viewed Through the Lens of Sustainability. International Dental Journal, 74, S446–S454. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.identj.2024.07.1270
  12. Robinson, M. (2024, October 11). Advisor Series: Integrating sustainability in occupational therapy. The Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care. https://greenhealthcare.ca/giovanna-boniface/ 
  13. Dennis, C. W., Dorsey, J. A., & Gitlow, L. (2015). A call for sustainable practice in occupational therapy. Canadian journal of occupational therapy. Revue canadienne d’ergotherapie, 82(3), 160–168. https://doi.org/10.1177/0008417414566925 
  14. World Health Organization. One Health. ​​https://www.who.int/health-topics/one-health#tab=tab_1 
  15. Lippi, L., de Sire, A., Folli, A., Turco, A., Moalli, S., Ammendolia, A., Maconi, A., & Invernizzi, M. (2022). Environmental Factors in the Rehabilitation Framework: Role of the One Health Approach to Improve the Complex Management of Disability. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(22), 15186. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192215186 
  16. Dieterle, C. (2020). The case for environmentally-informed occupational therapy: Clinical and educational applications to promote personal wellness, public health and environmental sustainability. World Federation of Occupational Therapists Bulletin, 76(1), 32–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/14473828.2020.1717055 
  17. Ikiugu, M. N., & McCollister, L. (2011). An Occupation-Based Framework for Changing Human Occupational Behavior to Address Critical Global Issues. International Journal of Professional Practice, 2(4), 402-417. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/289537865_An_occupation-based_framework_for_changing_human_occupational_behavior_to_address_critical_global_issues  
  18. Ikiugu, M. N., Westerfield, M. A., Lien, J. M., Theisen, E. R., Cerny, S. L., & Nissen, R. M. (2015). Empowering people to change occupational behaviours to address critical global issues: Habiliter les gens à changer leurs comportements occupationnels en vue d’aborder les grands enjeux mondiaux. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 82(3), 194–204. https://doi.org/10.1177/0008417414567529
  19. Drolet, M. J., Désormeaux-Moreau, M., Soubeyran, M., & Thiébaut, S. (2020). Intergenerational occupational justice: Ethically reflecting on climate crisis. Journal of Occupational Science, 27(3), 417–431. https://doi.org/10.1080/14427591.2020.1776148 
  20. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. The 17 goals. https://sdgs.un.org/goals 
  21. World Federation of Occupational Therapists. (2012, March). Environmental Sustainability, Sustainable Practice within Occupational Therapy. https://wfot.org/resources/environmental-sustainability-sustainable-practice-within-occupational-therapy 
  22. Smith, D. L., Fleming, K., Brown, L., Allen, A., Baker, J., & Gallagher, M. (2020). Occupational Therapy and Environmental Sustainability: A Scoping Review. Annals of International Occupational Therapy, 3(3), 136–143. https://doi.org/10.3928/24761222-20200116-02
  23. Garcia Diaz, L. V., & Richardson, J. (2023). Occupational therapy’s contributions to combating climate change and lifestyle diseases. Scandinavian journal of occupational therapy, 30(7), 992–999. https://doi.org/10.1080/11038128.2021.1989484