FRONTLINE EXPERTS USING INNOVATIVE TECHNIQUES TO GET CANADIANS BACK TO THE GYM
Physicians on frontlines of COVID-19 partner with GoodLife Fitness to set the standard for gym safety
[Toronto, ON] — Two doctors at the heart of downtown Toronto’s COVID-19 response are venturing outside hospital walls to help support the health of Canadians. Emergency Physicians and Healthcare Design Experts Christopher Hicks, MD, MEd, FRCPC, and Andrew Petrosoniak, MD, MEd, FRCPC of Advanced Performance Healthcare Design (APHD) have partnered with GoodLife Fitness to set the standard for how fitness is done in the COVID-19 era.
Hicks and Petrosoniak played an integral role in guiding, supporting, and testing the COVID-19 response process and protocols at St. Michael’s Hospital, a leading academic health sciences centre in Toronto, and have been on the frontline caring for COVID-19 patients throughout the pandemic.
“We’ve been working in the hospital setting to design the safest possible conditions. It was a unique challenge to be able to apply what we’ve learned to a new environment, but the same principles apply. We recognize it’s important for Canadians to have access to gyms for their physical and mental health, so this project is really important to us,” said Dr. Christopher Hicks.
They partnered with GoodLife to use simulation, combined with clinical and behavioural psychology expertise, to create customized solutions for the unique needs of fitness clubs.
“Our goal has been to meet or exceed the new health and safety parameters laid out by the different levels of government across the country. That’s why we developed The GoodLife Standard,” says Jason Sheridan, Senior Vice President of Operations for GoodLife Fitness. “GoodLife recognized that we are living in unprecedented circumstances and that, while we have an incredible wealth of knowledge on our own teams, we knew we needed to consult external experts in this specific field to make sure our reopening plan was as responsible and effective as possible.”
In preparation for their work with Canada’s largest fitness club chain, Hicks and Petrosoniak completed thorough research on the fitness industry, as well as GoodLife spaces, processes, and policies, with a specific focus on the company’s proposed re-opening plans including The GoodLife Standard and new operating model.
A comprehensive situational analysis was completed by interviewing many of GoodLife’s internal experts, analyzing Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) plans and strategy, and reviewing risks using Failure Mode Effective Analysis (FMEA). Table-Top Simulations, similar to role-playing, were completed by acting out certain potential scenarios over video conference calls, with various members of GoodLife’s leadership team. During this phase, they focused on efficiency and risk mitigation with workflows being iteratively refined.
“This pandemic has taught us that we’re linked far more than we ever thought we were,” says Dr. Andrew Petrosoniak. “To imagine that we can engage in activities within our towns, cities, and around the country without any impact on others is simply not true. In fact, when we come to the gym, it’s a social contract with those around us that we’re going to behave in a responsible way and that those who are sharing the space will do so as well.”
To test that social contract, the process culminated with a live, in-club simulation. The space was prepared so that it was set up in the new operating model and in accordance with The GoodLife Standard. Hicks and Petrosoniak had associates and members participate in many different scenarios to simulate what an actual experience would be like, including arriving at a club, checking in, working out, and leaving. During this time, the team was able to identify confusion points and blind spots that may encumber safety. They were then able to address and solve those issues, as well as eliminate friction associated with compliance before clubs opened.
“What we’ve seen here with GoodLife is that they’ve created a space that follows the recommendations and, in fact, goes above and beyond the recommendations that have been put in place,” says Dr. Christopher Hicks. “I’m a big believer in the work that GoodLife has done and the process they’ve engaged in. Adding the two of us into the pictures as frontline healthcare providers and medical designers I think really shows an added level of commitment on behalf of the organization to really understand the nature of the problem and to make the process of reopening fitness Clubs as responsible as I think it could possibly be.”
Feeling Great: The Revolutionary New Treatment For Depression And Anxiety
San Francisco, CA, July 27, 2020 - Feeling anxious, helpless and depressed by all the tragedies in the news? Nearly forty years after his five-million-copy bestselling book, Feeling Good, made a positive difference in the lives of countless people with its uplifting message: When you change the way you THINK, you can change the way you FEEL, and helped cognitive therapy become the most popular and extensively researched form of psychotherapy in the world, critically-acclaimed author and world-renowned clinical psychiatrist David D. Burns, M.D., brings the newest installment to his revolutionary research in Feeling Great: The Revolutionary New Treatment for Depression and Anxiety.
Now, Dr. David Burns brings us a radical new approach that makesultra-rapid recovery possible, even in a single two-hour, book-therapy session. Feeling Great emerged from 40 years of research on how therapy actually works and is based on this paradoxical idea:Your negative thoughts and feelings are NOT the result of some defect, like a chemical imbalance in your brain or a “mental disorder,” but from what is most beautiful and awesome about you and your core values. And the moment you realize this, recovery will be just a stone’s throw away.
In as little as a two-hour, book-therapy session, Feeling Great will help you:
1. Pinpoint and eliminate the powerful forces that keep you stuck;
2. Learn that your thoughts, and not the circumstances of your life, create all of your
feelings;
3. Discover why depression and anxiety are the world’s oldest cons;
4. Crush the ten types of distorted thoughts that rob you of happiness and self-esteem;
5. Learn why self-acceptance is the greatest change a human being can make.
David D. Burns, M.D.,is an Adjunct Clinical Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine. More than 50,000 mental health professionals have attended his workshops throughout the United States and Canada. His weekly Feeling Good Podcasts (approaching three million downloads) provide therapists and the general public alike with tips to overcome depression, anxiety, relationship conflicts, and habits and addiction. Dr. Burns lives in the San Francisco Bay area. To learn more, visit www.FeelingGreattheBook.com.
For national interviews, Dr. Burns can provide patients who are willing to participate and support the claims in the book. For interviews, reviews, mentions—or to receive a hard copy of the galley, please contact Justin Loeber, at 212-260-7576 or: justin.loeber@mouthdigitalpr.com.
Feeling Great: The Revolutionary New Treatment for Depression and Anxiety
PESI Publishing
Release Date: September 2020
Hardcover / $26.99
ISBN: 9781683732884
###
The Wealthy World’s Response to COVID-19, in Four Graphs … The U.S. Comes in Dead Last
After six months of COVID-19 pandemic, let’s pause, and assess the performance of countries and their leaders. Sadly, by most standards the U.S. has little to be proud of. (All data come from Worldometers)
Since it’s only fair to compare countries with comparable resources and healthcare infrastructure, we’ll look at the “Wealthy West” – the U.S., Canada, and a dozen Western European nations. (Others, like Japan, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand, aren’t shown because their COVID-19 numbers are too small to show up on these graphs.) Also, to level the playing field statistically, we’ll present per capita numbers rather than the raw numbers.
Total Cases. We begin with the daily progress of new cases, the most widely-used measure of the pandemic’s spread:
Every nation’s curve peaked 4-6 weeks after the pandemic first took hold, but with peaks several times greater in the hardest-hit countries (Spain and Belgium) than in the least-hard-hit (throughout Scandinavia). As measures such as face masks and social distancing took hold, twelve of the fourteen countries then saw a dramatic, steady decline in new cases. Those countries now typically see fewer than 10 new cases per MM in a typical day.
Sweden and the U.S. are the outliers, with little or no decline from the initial peak and a further surge around week 13. Sweden’s new cases are now down roughly 70% from their peak, while the U.S.’s have risen to levels never seen in even the hardest-hit countries. Sweden is noteworthy because it alone chose to take a laissez-faire approach, keeping schools and many businesses open throughout. But in the U.S., there is simply no positive way to spin the pandemic’s progression. Some try to attribute the U.S.’s current surge to an increase in testing, but even if that were true (see below), more testing just cannot explain that many new cases.
Deaths. With fewer cases comes fewer deaths. Also, all over the world the case fatality rate– i.e., the ratio of deaths to reported cases – for COVID-19 is declining. Reasons include better medical understanding of how to treat the most serious cases, healthcare systems that are now less heavily stressed, and a demographic shift in infections to younger patients, since COVID-19 is clearly most destructive to the elderly.
The following graph shows reported COVID-19 deaths by month, with the most recent months shown darkest and to the left. Countries are sorted in descending order of total deaths per capita since June 1 – roughly when most economies began to reopen:
April saw the most deaths for every country shown, with steady monthly declines since then. Many countries are now reporting just a handful of COVID-19-related deaths per week. However, three countries stand out for deaths since June 1 – the U.S., Sweden, and the U.K. Sweden saw high deaths continuing into June because of its continued surge, but the pace has slowed significantly in July. The U.K.’s ongoing high number of deaths continues to trouble and baffle – witness Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s recent announcement of an independent inquiry into the government’s response. However, the U.S.’s number does not baffle: the continuing surge in cases makes more deaths inevitable for at least a few more weeks, even at the lower mortality rates we’re now seeing.
To put the U.S.’s deaths in harsher perspective: the European countries shown (excluding Sweden and the U.K.) plus Canada, have a combined population roughly equal to the U.S.’s. Yet in the nearly two months from June 1 through July 26, that group of twelve countries has reported a total of only 6,400 COVID-19 deaths, compared to 41,000 in the U.S.; proportionally, the comparison is even starker for July alone.
Testing. Second only to motivating or mandating safe public practices, testing is the most important action a nation can take to control a pandemic’s spread, especially when a significant portion of those infected are asymptomatic. It’s critically important that nations test strategically – that is, testing people as the result of contact tracing, periodic testing in high-risk and high-contact occupations like health care and food service, and testing individuals when a recent experience justifies it.
By contrast, necessary testing occurs simply because people show symptoms. At least one test is needed to confirm a COVID-19 diagnosis, at least two more to confirm a recovery, and a few additional tests for obvious candidates like the patient’s housemates. Testing for these reasons doesn’t really enable a nation to control a pandemic’s spread. The following graph shows the progress of total strategic tests performed in 40 relatively affluent countries worldwide – we assume that each reported case generates six necessary tests, with the remainder of a nation’s total tests considered as strategic tests:
The U.S. has significantly ramped up its strategic testing, but so has virtually everyone else. Even today, the U.S. ranks just in the middle of the pack. Claims that the U.S. leads the world in testing are flatly untrue – and would be even if we showed total rather than strategictesting as the metric.
Lastly, turnaround time matters! Having to wait 8-10 days for the results of a COVID-19 test is a little like waiting four months for the results of a pregnancy test. The average turnaround at the two major U.S. testing labs is now 4-6 days, and that doesn’t include the time needed to schedule a test, deliver it to the testing lab, and communicate the result back to the patient. This is a huge problem, especially with the current surge creating high demand for necessary tests.
Red state/blue state. The following graph tracks the weekly progression of new cases in U.S. states, divided into six groups depending on how they voted in the 2016 presidential election – red for Republican, blue for Democrat. Color intensity varies with the margin of victory. California, an outlier in many respects, is shown in green:
A clear pattern emerges. In the early stages of the pandemic, a small but populous group of states, virtually all in the Northeast or the industrial Midwest, was hit the hardest, and most were heavily blue states in 2016. Then, from mid-April to mid-May, virtually every hard-hit state saw declines in new cases, while the others stayed low. Now, in the recent surge, the hardest-hit states include every state in the South, plus California, Arizona, and three less populous mountain states.
This graph is not intended as a political statement – it is, after all, nothing more than publicly available data. The enormous state-to-state differences in how COVID-19 has spread are clearly attributable to how quickly states chose to reopen their economies, and how closely their residents observed sound personal health practices. But the underlying causes of those differences bear discussion.
SUMMARY. The numbers show that the U.S.’s performance in response to the pandemic has been shockingly poor, if not disastrous. They reflect a failure to control the spread of new cases, continuing deaths, inadequate testing, and the politicization of decisions that should be purely science- and data-based. All this has happened in spite of available resources in and economic sacrifices by the U.S. that are comparable to the other countries of the Wealthy West. Clearly, a sober, honest national discussion about balancing individual freedom with public safety and economic well-being with personal health is necessary, or history is doomed to repeat itself.
Just In Time For Christmas In July: A Santa Tale With A Modern Twist
New York, NY, July 27, 2020 — Santa’s been kidnapped just before the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, but almost no one notices his absence. Christmas has become an exercise in one-upmanship, with children practically dictating their wish lists and parents gauging the success of the holiday solely upon their ability to outdo their neighbors. Santa needs to be rescued for people to remember the true meaning of Christmas. Can a band of unfairly labeled misfits culled from The Naughty List rise to the challenge?
Author Thomas Conway sets the stage for worldwide adventure in this imaginative, modern Christmas tale that blends elements of pop culture with the age-old tradition of Santa Claus. The Naughty List opens in a world without Santa, where toy manufacturer Eastern Industries has just released a new holiday marketing scheme, monopolizing the attention of the children and draining their holiday spirit. With Christmas fast approaching and the North Pole in chaos, a team of intrepid youngsters recruited from Santa’s Naughty List aim to rescue Santa and save the holiday.
While primarily a Santa tale, The Naughty List cleverly incorporates Winter holiday beliefs from around the world, including the legend of Marduk, a Babylonian god; the Roman feast of Saturnalia; the epic story of Jangar from North Asia; Moravian traditions of animal communication; and the present real-life adventures of Israeli Santa Claus, Nicola Abdou.
Also sprinkled with references to holiday favorites such as Miracle on 34th Street, T’was the Night Before Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and others, this wonderfully rich tale promotes right over wrong, good over evil and love over fear.
Suitable for all ages, The Naughty List skillfully weaves valuable lessons about overindulgence and society’s tendency to put labels on children, with the overarching theme that when kids misbehave they should not be defined by their bad deeds but rather see it as a learning opportunity, since when we appreciate the best in humanity and combine our talents, we are capable of almost anything.
The Naughty List, winner of the 2020 Indie Book Award in the E-Book Fiction category, is the first release from Thomas Conway. His 30-year career spans various industries. When not at work, he devotes his time to environmental matters and inventing stories for his two children.
Feeling Great: The Revolutionary New Treatment For Depression And Anxiety
San Francisco, CA, July 27, 2020 - Feeling anxious, helpless and depressed by all the tragedies in the news? Nearly forty years after his five-million-copy bestselling book, Feeling Good, made a positive difference in the lives of countless people with its uplifting message: When you change the way you THINK, you can change the way you FEEL, and helped cognitive therapy become the most popular and extensively researched form of psychotherapy in the world, critically-acclaimed author and world-renowned clinical psychiatrist David D. Burns, M.D., brings the newest installment to his revolutionary research in Feeling Great: The Revolutionary New Treatment for Depression and Anxiety.
Now, Dr. David Burns brings us a radical new approach that makesultra-rapid recovery possible, even in a single two-hour, book-therapy session. Feeling Great emerged from 40 years of research on how therapy actually works and is based on this paradoxical idea:Your negative thoughts and feelings are NOT the result of some defect, like a chemical imbalance in your brain or a “mental disorder,” but from what is most beautiful and awesome about you and your core values. And the moment you realize this, recovery will be just a stone’s throw away.
In as little as a two-hour, book-therapy session, Feeling Great will help you:
1. Pinpoint and eliminate the powerful forces that keep you stuck;
2. Learn that your thoughts, and not the circumstances of your life, create all of your
feelings;
3. Discover why depression and anxiety are the world’s oldest cons;
4. Crush the ten types of distorted thoughts that rob you of happiness and self-esteem;
5. Learn why self-acceptance is the greatest change a human being can make.
David D. Burns, M.D.,is an Adjunct Clinical Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine. More than 50,000 mental health professionals have attended his workshops throughout the United States and Canada. His weekly Feeling Good Podcasts (approaching three million downloads) provide therapists and the general public alike with tips to overcome depression, anxiety, relationship conflicts, and habits and addiction. Dr. Burns lives in the San Francisco Bay area. To learn more, visit www.FeelingGreattheBook.com.
For national interviews, Dr. Burns can provide patients who are willing to participate and support the claims in the book. For interviews, reviews, mentions—or to receive a hard copy of the galley, please contact Justin Loeber, at 212-260-7576 or: justin.loeber@mouthdigitalpr.com.
Feeling Great: The Revolutionary New Treatment for Depression and Anxiety
PESI Publishing
Release Date: September 2020
Hardcover / $26.99
ISBN: 9781683732884
###
Updates on updates!! You guys heard my announcements first on this podcast before it goes live on my instagram. I also cover topics from a pool I took on instagram so make sure you are following me on there so I can cover your topic next time! Please leave a review and stars so we can get this podcast known! Thanks for your support and have a great week fam!
Feeling Great: The Revolutionary New Treatment For Depression And Anxiety
San Francisco, CA, July 23, 2020 - Feeling anxious, helpless and depressed by all the tragedies in the news? Nearly forty years after his five-million-copy bestselling book, Feeling Good, made a positive difference in the lives of countless people with its uplifting message: When you change the way you THINK, you can change the way you FEEL, and helped cognitive therapy become the most popular and extensively researched form of psychotherapy in the world, critically-acclaimed author and world-renowned clinical psychiatrist David D. Burns, M.D., brings the newest installment to his revolutionary research in Feeling Great: The Revolutionary New Treatment for Depression and Anxiety.
Now, Dr. David Burns brings us a radical new approach that makesultra-rapid recovery possible, even in a single two-hour, book-therapy session. Feeling Great emerged from 40 years of research on how therapy actually works and is based on this paradoxical idea:Your negative thoughts and feelings are NOT the result of some defect, like a chemical imbalance in your brain or a “mental disorder,” but from what is most beautiful and awesome about you and your core values. And the moment you realize this, recovery will be just a stone’s throw away.
In as little as a two-hour, book-therapy session, Feeling Great will help you:
1. Pinpoint and eliminate the powerful forces that keep you stuck;
2. Learn that your thoughts, and not the circumstances of your life, create all of your
feelings;
3. Discover why depression and anxiety are the world’s oldest cons;
4. Crush the ten types of distorted thoughts that rob you of happiness and self-esteem;
5. Learn why self-acceptance is the greatest change a human being can make.
David D. Burns, M.D.,is an Adjunct Clinical Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine. More than 50,000 mental health professionals have attended his workshops throughout the United States and Canada. His weekly Feeling Good Podcasts (approaching three million downloads) provide therapists and the general public alike with tips to overcome depression, anxiety, relationship conflicts, and habits and addiction. Dr. Burns lives in the San Francisco Bay area. To learn more, visit www.FeelingGreattheBook.com.
For national interviews, Dr. Burns can provide patients who are willing to participate and support the claims in the book. For interviews, reviews, mentions—or to receive a hard copy of the galley, please contact Justin Loeber, at 212-260-7576 or: justin.loeber@mouthdigitalpr.com.
Feeling Great: The Revolutionary New Treatment for Depression and Anxiety
PESI Publishing
Release Date: September 2020
Hardcover / $26.99
ISBN: 9781683732884
###
Building A Stronger Immune System Through The Healthy And Scrumptious Recipes In My Pinewood Kitchen
Nashville, TN, July 23, 2020 ̶ ̶ Mee McCormick understands only too well the importance of healthy food, having watched her single mother suffer with a host of debilitating auto-immune diseases, some of which she inherited, that led her to make the decision in her mid-twenties to change her own fate. Today, chef and author Mee McCormick is an expert who healed herself of Crohn's disease, gut issues, and other immune system challenges with whole food recipes when doctors couldn't help her.
Offering microbiome-friendly meals with a Southern spin, My Pinewood Kitchen: A Southern Culinary Cure, is a follow-up cookbook to her wildly successful, life-enhancing My Kitchen Cure. Mee is living proof that you can change your fate by what’s on your plate and her recipes will help heal your gut and fight a host of autoimmune diseases. With over 130 mouthwatering, whole food recipes that can be customized for Keto, Paleo, or vegans, it truly is an "all-inclusive" eating plan for everyone in the family.
From smoothies, soups and salads, to dinners and desserts, every recipe in the book is gluten-free and gut-friendly. Mee has since forged the way for a new kind of hospitality: a fully-inclusive table where everyone can eat delicious Southern comfort classics without sacrificing taste, regardless of even the most severe food allergies or dietary restrictions – all while stressing the importance of intestinal health and how to improve your own gut microbiome. Her book shows us which foods are nutritional powerhouses and which ones we must avoid, and how to eat real food every day without breaking the bank.
Mee McCormick is a rising Southern culinary and wellness innovator, restaurateur, author, TV cooking personality, farmer, rancher, wife and mother. She splits her time between Nashville and nearby Nunnelly, Tennessee; a tiny, unincorporated community in Hickman County; home to her biodynamic farm and restaurant Pinewood Kitchen & Mercantile – that is unique in that every meal is created with the intention to serve everyone with the same deliciousness, regardless of dietary restrictions. In fact, some members of the community drive hours to get a taste of her farm-to-table cuisine and her mouthwatering Pinewood’s Grain-Free Fried Chicken!
Mee authored her first cookbook My Kitchen Cure, which led to wild success and a book deal with HCI for her second cookbook, My Pinewood Kitchen, published in April 2020. She frequently appears on Today in Nashville, and she participates in nationally-recognized food festivals and events, spreading the same level of care and hospitality to audiences everywhere that she has become known for throughout the state of Tennessee. Visit: www.meemccormick.com or www.pinewoodkitchenandmercantile.com.
My Pinewood Kitchen: A Southern Culinary Cure/130+ Crazy Delicious, Gluten-Free Recipes to Reduce Inflammation and Make Your Gut Happy
By Mee McCormick
HCI BOOKS / $26.95
ISBN: 9780757323522
Available wherever books are sold
###
MD Connected announces virtual care partnership with Rexall
MD Connected to provide virtual consultations to visitors of Rexall.ca
TORONTO, July 23, 2020 /CNW/ - MD Connected Ltd. (the Company or MD Connected), is excited to announce a new virtual care partnership with Rexall. Through the MD Connected virtual care platform, Rexall customers will have access to physicians for general medical consultations as well as specialists like Dermatologists, Psychiatrists, Pediatricians, Urologists, Internal Medicine and more. This partnership provides even more Canadians with the access to the healthcare they need, when they need it, through the convenience of their phone, tablet or computer.
"Rexall and MD Connected share a mutual vision to provide best in class healthcare to Canadians – this partnership paves a path forward to creating a seamless patient experience from start to finish," says Venky Weylagro, CEO of MD Connected. "We value the trust Rexall has placed in us to carry out an integral role in their customers' circle of care."
"Expanding our virtual care service offering with MD Connected is exciting news, giving patients the ability to access trusted and safe healthcare services when they need them most," said Nicolas Caprio, President, Rexall. "Patients will be able to seek out medical advice when it is most convenient for them, using video chat or phone to receive safe, effective and immediate care."
MD Connected is proud to be a trusted healthcare provider to support the medical needs of Canadians through the use of virtual care. Now, more than ever, MD Connected understands the importance of being agile to meet the changing needs of Canadians as we adapt to a new normal. With competing demands on our patients' time and the continued need for social distancing, the Company has increased service hours, introduced additional specialists and added doctors to ensure we provide efficient, effective, patient-centric care. We are committed to our patients and will continue to seek opportunities to advance healthcare in Canada.
About MD Connected MD Connected Ltd. launched in 2017 with a mission to reduce barriers to accessing exceptional healthcare for all Canadians. MD Connected Ltd. is a virtual healthcare provider that uses advanced technologies, highly trained medical practitioners, and a secure telecommunications platform to conveniently unite healthcare professionals with patients. MD Connected has 26 telemedicine clinics and has conducted hundreds of thousands of virtual visits to date. For more details about MD Connected, please visit www.mdconnected.ca.
Follow us on social media: on Facebook at @mdconnectedclinics, on Twitter at @md_connected, on Instagram at @md_connected.
About Rexall Drugstores With a heritage dating back over a century, Rexall is a leading drugstore operator with a dynamic history of innovation and growth, dedicated to caring for Canadians' health…one person at a time. Operating over 400 pharmacies across Canada, Rexall's 8,500 employees provide exceptional patient care and customer service. Rexall is part of the Rexall Pharmacy Group Ltd. and a proud member of the global McKesson Corporation family. For more information, visit rexall.ca.
SOURCE MD Connected Ltd.
Storms, Floods, Droughts, and Heat Will Disrupt Chemical Industry Production as Climate Change Impact Grows
Similar events have already caused hundreds of millions in costs and lost earnings, and will grow more common in the future
Boston, MA, July 23, 2020 – Climate-related hazards are poised to massively disrupt the chemicals industry and have already caused hundreds of millions in damage globally. In their new report, “In the Path of Destruction: Preparing for Climate Change in the Chemical Industry,” Lux Research outlines steps chemical companies need to take to adapt to the very real threats climate change poses to the industry.
“Increasing levels of CO2 from human-made sources will amplify climate-related risks for the chemical industry. Coastal storms, inland flooding, extreme temperature, and drought will all have wide-ranging consequences,” explains lead report author, Kristin Marshall, Senior Research Associate at Lux. “Serious impacts will include damage to capital assets, disruptions to transport and raw materials availability, and impacts on labor productivity and safety.”
Beyond requiring mitigation steps, these climate impacts will also drive structural changes to industry production. Marshall continues, “Our review of the climate change adaptation strategies found that there is no completely effective solution except to move out of the path of destruction.” The need to adapt will make small-scale, decentralized operations a growing part of the chemicals industry, even in the face of worse economics, as the impact of climate changes intensifies.
Companies do not have to be situated along coasts to be exposed to climate risk given threats to production and logistics. For example, shipping disruptions that hit BASF and other producers due to low water levels on the Rhine and the flooding Dow experienced in Midland, Michigan. The financial implications are already significant, costing hundreds of millions in damage and lost earnings. In the long term, small-scale decentralized manufacturing, such as fermentation or electrochemical production, will enable companies to operate across multiple smaller facilities, reducing exposure of the supply chain to climate risk.
Lux Research is a leading provider of tech-enabled research and advisory services, helping clients drive growth through technology innovation. A pioneer in the research industry, Lux uniquely combines technical expertise and business insights with a proprietary intelligence platform, using advanced analytics and data science to surface true leading indicators. With quality data derived from primary research, fact-based analysis, and opinions that challenge traditional thinking, Lux empowers clients to make more informed decisions today to ensure future success.
