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391 - Making Vet Clinics Greener
16th April 2026 • The Cone of Shame Veterinary Podcast • Dr. Andy Roark
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Dr. Matthew Richardson, veterinary practice owner and director of the Veterinary Sustainability Alliance, joins Dr. Andy Roark to address a growing challenge in veterinary medicine: how clinics can reduce their environmental impact without sacrificing patient care or profitability. He breaks down healthcare’s carbon footprint and shares practical, real-world changes clinics can implement, from energy-efficient upgrades to reducing anesthetic gases. They also introduce the Green PAW Certification, a step-by-step program designed to help practices take measurable, sustainable action.

Links: https://veterinarysustainabilityalliance.org

Dr. Richardson holds a BA in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, a PhD in Zoology and a DVM degree. He is a small animal practitioner licensed in British Columbia and Ontario, owns The Animal Cinic in Toronto and has a special interest in environmentally sustainable practice. The Animal Clinic was the first clinic in North America to receive the Green Paw Certification for sustainability. He is the Past-President of the OVMA and The Farley Foundation, the co-founder and chair of the OVMA’s Sustainability Committee, Director of the Veterinary Sustainability Alliance and member of the CVMA Sustainability Advisory Group. A keen year-round cyclist and advocate for active transportation, Dr. Richardson can often be found on his bike or with a camera in his hand (or sometimes both).

Mentioned in this episode:

Uncharted Practice Owner Summit at NAVC SkillShop

Owning a veterinary practice comes with challenges no one teaches you in school. The Uncharted Practice Owner Summit, hosted at NAVC SkillShop in Orlando, is a hands-on leadership workshop designed to help owners strengthen their teams, improve operations, and make confident business decisions. This small-group, working session focuses on real-world tools and honest conversations, not passive lectures. Spots are limited. Register now!

Register for Uncharted Practice Owner Summit at NAVC SkillShop here!

Sign up for the Early Career Newsletter here!

Office Hours w/ Dr. Andy Roark

Inside the Uncharted Veterinary Community, Dr. Andy Roark hosts Office Hours where veterinary leaders can bring real-world challenges and get practical guidance from someone who understands the realities of practice life. These sessions give veterinarians, practice managers, and team leaders a chance to ask questions, workshop difficult situations, and gain perspective on issues like team dynamics, communication, burnout, and clinic operations. Instead of navigating leadership challenges alone, members get direct access to Andy’s insight along with the support of a community of veterinary professionals working through many of the same challenges.

Register for Office Hours here!

Care Is Your Calling!

Transcripts

Andy:

Welcome everybody to the Kone of Shame Veterinary podcast.

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I am your host, Dr.

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And guys on this Thursday after Earth Day.

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I am so happy to bring you

this interview with Dr.

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Matthew Richardson.

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Matthew is, , one of the directors of

the Veterinary Sustainability Alliance.

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He is someone I met earlier this year.

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He's a neat guy.

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He's a practice owner that manages

to kind of set it up so that he works

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half the time and he's off the other

half of the time and he's just, he

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rides his bike to the clinic and

he's just built this green practice.

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And, , he's working with, , the Veterinary

Sustainability Alliance to launch the

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Green Paw Certification, which is a

certification, , throughout North America.

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His hope is that , the certification

will give people some guidance on how

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to make their vet practice greener.

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I have a, I really enjoy

this conversation with him.

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He gives a ton of examples of things

that they do in their practice

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and their practices can do to

make them more environmentally

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friendly, and it's just, it's just.

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Good stuff.

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It's one of those things where it's,

, small, intentional, incremental mo

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multifocal actions that build up to,

to, to having a significant impact.

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And so anyway, I, this made me really

happy to talk with Matthew guys.

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I hope people will enjoy this.

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I know a lot of people are out there

looking at their practices and saying.

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I, I would like to, I would like to, I'd

like to do a little bit better for the

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environment , and I think this is a great

episode to give you some ideas and some

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encouragement on how you can do that.

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So anyway, without further

ado, let's get into it.

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Kelsey Beth Carpenter: This is your show.

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We're glad you're here.

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We want to help you in

your veterinary career.

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Welcome to the Cone of Shame with Dr.

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Andy Roark.

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Andy: Ooh, welcome to the podcast, Dr.

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Matthew Richardson.

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How are you?

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Matthew: I am doing great,

Andy, how are you doing today?

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Andy: I am doing fantastic.

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I really appreciate you

making time to be here.

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You are a neat guy, and I'm really glad

that we got to sit down and talk a bit.

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So for those who don't know you

well, you and I, we just met

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earlier this year in Toronto.

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I was at the OVMA, , convention

there, which is always a

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Matthew: the, during

the depths of winter it

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Andy: It was, it was like, it

was like, Hey, let's have a

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conference in Toronto in January.

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, that'll be great.

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And so anyway, but they,

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Matthew: every, it happens every year.

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Every year.

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There's terrible weather, so.

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Andy: It's one of my favorite conferences.

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It really is.

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I, I, the people are so wonderful

and they always have a really great

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program and it just, I, I joke, but

also I really do love that conference.

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you and I met there you are the director

of the Veterinary Sustainability Alliance.

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You were on the OVMA Environmental

Sustainability Committee and you were also

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an independent veterinary practice owner

who, who works about every other week.

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, you like work two weeks on and

two weeks off and you have

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got a really neat thing going.

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And so I, first of all.

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I love that you're someone

who can run your own business

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and be there half the time.

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I think that's awesome.

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I really am trying to

preach to people these days.

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I think there's a narrative that

independent practice owners have

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less freedom than other people.

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And I, I don't think that that's true.

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I think that there could be more freedom

and independent practice ownership,

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and I just want people to know that.

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And then the other thing is, I'm

really interested in your work with

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the Veterinary Sustainability Alliance.

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so let me just sort of, lemme sort

of Pause, kind of there and just

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say, why don't you, why don't you

take me out just a little bit and

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tell me about what the, , veterinary

Sustainability Alliance actually is

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and how much, space that encompasses.

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Matthew: So, the Veterinary Sustainability

Alliance is a North American group.

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, we have, think eight directors right

now, , four from Canada, four from the

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us accompanying veterinarians who are

in academia, private practice, research.

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and we are all, , obviously

very passionate about the

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impact that veterinary medicine.

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Has on the environment and, , the impact

that our actions have on the environment.

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So we are, , we've partnered with

both CVMA and A VMA to develop a

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framework for sort of how to be more

sustainable in veterinary medicine.

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, and we just recently launched our

green PA certification where clinics

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can, , become, , certified as a green paw

practice for sustainability initiatives.

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Andy: How bad are vet

practices for the environment?

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And I, and to , be honest with me.

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'cause I've thought about this, right?

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I am.

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So, I am an avid outdoorsman.

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I love to camp, I love to hike.

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I love to, I really love to garden.

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I care about the environment and also

I'm busy and I work, you know, and I work

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in the practice and we, and we're moving

quickly and we're trying to be efficient.

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And I also live in South Carolina, which

the government support for, you know,

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environmental programs is, is, is wanting.

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So like they ended public

recycling programs.

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Two to three years ago at this point.

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And so anyway, like that's, that's

kinda the environment that I'm in.

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And so I'm looking this and

I'm looking at what we do.

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And I'll be honest with you,

Matthew, I'm kind of, I'm, I don't,

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I think I'm a little bit unclear,

I think on how bad is vet medicine

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as opposed to say other industries.

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And then really like what are

the big drivers of environmental

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impact that, that I'm unaware of?

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Matthew: It's sort of the dirty

secret of, of veterinary medicine.

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, and there's sort of

three big points on that.

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, one is that just medical care in general

is not environmentally friendly, right?

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, globally 5% of greenhouse gas emissions

are due to the healthcare sector.

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In the United States, it's eight

and a half percent of greenhouse

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gas emissions are due to healthcare.

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As a veterinarian, we should

be acknowledging that pet

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ownership and meat production

are not environmentally friendly.

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If we think about dogs and cats

living in the United States,

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they are big meat consumers.

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And so the greenhouse gas.

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, production , of dogs and cats in, , the

United States is the equivalent of

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heating about 10 million homes a year.

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Andy: Wow.

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I, no, no,

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Matthew: yeah.

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And, here's a great statistic.

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I think, , if dogs and cats in

the United States were their own

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country, they would be the fifth

largest meat consumer in the world,

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Andy: that's a great stat.

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That's mind vending.

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I have to sit and, and

think about what that means

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Matthew: And, and, I'm not sitting

here up here on an ivory throne

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looking down on people, right?

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I have two large breed dogs.

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I've had large breed dogs all my life.

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I love large breed dogs.

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I love a good dog that you

can go for a hike with.

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You can, you know, go swimming

with, you can do all this stuff

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with, , like a large breed dog

will produce up to two and a half.

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Tons of carbon dioxide a year,

, which is the equivalent of, your

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average family car for the year.

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So I try not to drive, , as much as I can.

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I go everywhere by bike and, and anyone

who knows me knows that about me.

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but I have two large breed dogs, right.

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So,

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So that's sort of the bad news,

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Andy: Okay.

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Yeah.

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This is not good for veterinarians.

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Like, none of this is

good for, for the vet

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Matthew: And, and, when we flip

it around and we go, right?

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So climate change and environmental

degradation, , also lead to , poor health

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outcomes for humans and animals, right?

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I mean, just look at something like

COVID, or, natural disasters and all

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this stuff like it's bad news, right?

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The good news is that there are.

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Are a lot of things that we can

do as pet owners, as veterinary

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professionals, as practice owners,

and just as citizens, , to reduce the

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impact that we have on the environment.

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and so that's a lot of what we're

trying to do in the Veterinary

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Sustainability Alliance is getting

people thinking about that.

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. There are lots of studies showing that

clients actually wanna see veterinarians

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taking a leading role in these sorts

of discussions, and they're actually

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willing to pay a premium for it.

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so, you know, if you wanna make a

business, you can make a business case

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for being environmentally sustainable.

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Andy: I think it's helpful to be able

to make a business case for it, right?

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It, it's, it's, in the world that we

live in now, , and we've had a, you know,

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a growing number of sort of corporate

practices and things, I think that

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there's a lot of people who would like

to have a, you know, a smaller footprint.

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I think you've gotta be able to

make a business case for that in

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order to get groups, , often to come

along and support what you're doing.

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Or at least make a case That this can

be a net neutral, , undertaking that

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it's not gonna be overall expense.

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I hate that it's that way, but I'm just

sort of trying to think about people

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being able to sort of get practices and

get practice groups kind of on board with

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being more environmentally conscious to

help me get a a, an idea of scale here.

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So we're talking about, we're

talking about meat consumption,

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we're talking about, The

environmental impact of having pets.

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What are the things that we

do at the practice that have a

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significant environmental impact?

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And then if I, if I work hard

with my practice to have a green

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practice, Matthew, am I, am I

actually making a difference or

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just kind of spitting in the wind?

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When we look at the larger picture of what

it means to have pet owners, I, I think,

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yeah, that, that's what I would wanna

know is like of the things that are in my

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control and in the way that I practice.

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Is there a significant

environmental impact there?

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Do I have the ability in the way

that I practice to, to actually

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make an impact that means anything?

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Matthew: Yeah.

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Great.

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Great question.

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I think, I think we do, short

answer is yes, I think we do.

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, and there's sort of many

different things that we can do.

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I think, you know, one of the things

is, the things that we can do within

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our practice, and then we can, talk

about it with, we can talk about

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it with staff, we can talk about it

with other veterinarians and get them

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thinking about what they're doing.

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you know, you mentioned corporate,

the big corporations are actually all.

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Interested in sustainability,

and they're all looking at how

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they can lessen their impact.

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And so I think that, there's a

snowballing effect for what we

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do, , that has the possibility

of, making a real difference.

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there's a lot of things

that we can do, right?

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I am gonna sort of jump ahead a bit

here, but one of my pet things that

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I love to talk about is, , lighting

choices in a clinic, right?

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I bought my practice, 20 years ago.

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, it had been running for 35 years.

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It had a whole bunch of compact,

, it had fluorescent tubes.

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In the ceiling.

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That's what it, its lighting was.

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occasionally when one had died out, I'd

gone and bought an LED tube and put it in

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and didn't really think too much of it.

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, and then I learned about a program that

we have in Ontario, , where you can call

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a number, , and they will send someone

around to assess The lighting you've

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got and how you could switch it over

to LEDs and there's a big government

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rebate that covers about half the work.

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So I said, sure.

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They took away all of the

old tubes and left us with.

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LEDs and I tracked it for two years

before I did that switch, and two

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years after I did that switch.

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And just going from fluorescent lights to

LEDs reduced my energy use by 28% a year.

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, Andy: was that kind of the

first major sort of, , pro

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environmental sustainability move

that you made in your practice?

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what sent you down this path?

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Matthew: so yes, that's

the biggest one we've done.

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We've done small scale changes.

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We've done big scale changes.

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everything from making sure that

we're, we've got a water filter rather

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than giving bottled water to clients.

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We've got a coffee machine that uses

whole beans rather than Keurig pods.

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We reuse, reusable, but rags for the

cleaning, except for sort of the sies of.

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Dirty stuff, we're using, , IV

bags that don't have PVC in them

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so that they can be recycled.

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, there are a lot of choices that we

can be making, , that don't cost

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a lot more than what we're already

doing, , and actually are nicer for the

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nicer to use and nicer for the world.

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Andy: Say I was a locum vet, right?

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I'm gonna, I'm gonna be a relief vet.

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I'm gonna come in for the day.

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, what would I see as I kind of came

into the clinic what would I notice

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Matthew: you wouldn't notice a lot, , to

be honest,, but you would notice things

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like, instead of there being, , paper

towel easily accessible everywhere.

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In each exam room, there's

a drawer that has a stack of

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reusable rags that we can use.

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, and so things like that, , in the kitchen

there's, reusable cutlery, plates, dishes,

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, I think the big thing that they would

notice is that there's usually anywhere

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between one and three bicycles parked in

the lobby we're right in downtown Toronto

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and, , we have tried to get the city to

put in bike racks in front of the clinic

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so that we can leave our bikes outside.

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but , I have, between one and

five, , employees who rides

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their bike to work, , every day.

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, we're using recyclable.

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Nitrile gloves, for example.

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, which is a huge thing.

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, we're being mindful of our

anesthetic protocols, so we're

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using less inhaled anesthetic gases.

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Things that just sort of changes that

we're making, , that we, you know, if

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we have a TV behind, , reception that

does occasionally pop up little, Hey,

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did you know that we're doing this?

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Did you know we're doing that?

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but most of the time,

unless you were looking.

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I don't think you'd be particularly

aware that you know it.

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It's not like we're a bunch of hippie

granola crunchers who are, you know,

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reusing needles and things like that.

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Andy: Yeah, so, so that's where, that's

where the hippie granola country line is.

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Is, is that reusing?

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It is.

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Okay, I got that.

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So you, you bought this practice, right?

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It wasn't always this way, and then when

you bought it, my perception is that

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you did not jump in and just spin the

searing wheel of we're gonna add in all

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of these protocols and things like that.

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Did you have a problem

with the team buy-in?

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Were there people who were just

like, who kinda rolled their

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eyes or who didn't perceive that

they liked their paper towels?

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tell, tell me about that do you

hire a certain type of person?

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I mean, I'm imagining there are some

people who would be really attracted

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to what you're doing and maybe some

people who would say, yeah, I don't,

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this isn't the way I'm used to doing

things, or, I don't share this values.

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Talk, talk to me about,

cultural fit with your staff.

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Matthew: =You raise a good point.,

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I bought half of the

practice 20 years ago.

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I bought the other half.

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. Five years ago, four years ago.

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So that was really when

things started to change.

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But before then, we'd done some things.

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It was not me, it was a staff member

who's suggest the reusable towels.

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Right.

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My parents had a place out in

the country that they sold and

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they had a bunch of extra dishes.

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So I brought in a bunch of reusable

dishes that we could use and just said,

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this is how we're doing things now in,

in terms of that, , the lighting was.

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was a big one, but that was, the advantage

of being the owner and the one who cares.

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The most about this is that there are

decisions like that, that you just say,

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like, this is what we're doing, right?

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It actually made for better

quality of light for everyone.

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So I think everyone's, happy with that.

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there are some things that, you

know, that, that do get some grumble.

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as I said, I got a, a coffee

machine that makes like individual

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coffees from whole beans.

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And thought, oh, isn't this great?

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We're gonna get rid of the Keurig.

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And, forgot that not everyone likes

really strong, really dark coffee.

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Andy: They were like, no,

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I, I missed the light roast.

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Yeah.

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Matthew: so my staff were like,

oh no, I don't like your coffee.

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, I don't wanna get rid of the Keurig.

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So we now actually you have the choice.

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The concession I made to the

Keurigs was that we would

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get, , a box from TerraCycle.

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So there's a company called

TerraCycle, which their whole

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thing is they will recycle things

that generally aren't recyclable.

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, so there's less impact on that even

if people are choosing to drink.

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Arguably less good

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Andy: Yeah.

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I mean, to me, I, I do, I do

love a heavy, dark roast coffee.

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Alright.

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So, you know, so I'm thinking about

this and I'm thinking about the examples

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that, that you're sort of putting down

and I think about all the different

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kinds of practices there are out there.

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There's just the different styles of

practice, like I said, um, you know,

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you've got mixed animal practices, small

animal, mobile practice, things like that.

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I, I know when you guys were doing work

, with the Green Cross certification, that

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you, you sort of took those types of.

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Variability between practices into play.

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Tell me a little bit about the Green

Paw certification and then also it's

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adaptability because some people

are going, yeah, this is not, this

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doesn't sound like my practice.

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, some of these things aren't gonna

work for us and help me, help

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Matthew: we we're out in the country.

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We're not gonna have people

riding their bikes to work.

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Andy: right.

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It's there, there, there you go.

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Right.

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Matthew: yeah.

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Our goal was to make the Green Paw

Certification program applicable to be

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evidence-based and make it applicable

to all, , practices in North America.

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, and so there are, , to get green

PA certification, , there are 10

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steps you need to do, are sort of

divided up into three different

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categories, which are core.

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Clinic and community.

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, and so the core is sort of the

foundational steps that if you want to be.

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Doing sustainability work, you really

need to sort of lay the groundwork, right?

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So those are, , the three steps

in core are, , forming a green

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team, which is sort of the number

one thing that everyone should do.

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And I, and, I did not do it 'cause I

was not aware that this was how things

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were done when I started down my

pathway of environmental sustainability.

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, so forming a green team, you're

bringing together, , different people

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with different lived experiences

from different areas of the clinic

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so that, , it's not just the practice

owner going, okay, here's what

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we're gonna do, that's sustainable.

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We're gonna, you know,

not use any paper at all.

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Then the technicians are like,

well, we really like using paper

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to record our anesthetic protocols.

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And reception says, well, we

have forms we need to sign.

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Right?

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So you need to get people from

different teams together so that you

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know that what you're gonna propose is

applicable to everyone at the clinic.

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Right.

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And then people are bringing

their own li lived experiences.

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So you need, and you need a team

because there are certain things that

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you just, you know, yes, I can say I'm

going to replace all of the lights.

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:

With LEDs.

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If I'm proposing something that, that's

sort of a bigger project, you know,

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or I am doing something that's gonna

require buy-in from other people, , I

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need to make sure that there's

enough people that are on board with

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:

it that we can sort of,, encourage

everyone to go along with that change.

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So that's sort of, that's the first

thing is forming your green team.

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, and then this next step is

assessing what your impact is.

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Before you do anything, right?

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So you need to know if you're gonna go

ahead and you're gonna make change and

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you're gonna say, Hey, look at all these

great things we did to reduce our impact.

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Well, how do you know how much

you've reduced your impact by?

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If you don't know what

your impact is, right.

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So for, for the American

Veterinary Clinics, the Veterinary

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Sustainability Alliance has a carbon

calculator, , that can help you,

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, calculate your carbon footprint.

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:

There are a number of very regionally

specific things in a carbon

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:

calculator, so it, unfortunately,

it isn't applicable to Canada.

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we are working on adapting it , for

the Canadian clinics as well.

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:

But, , so you need to sort of see

what your impact is, what you're

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measuring, so you know, what, what

impact your initiatives are having.

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and then the third part of core is

what are the, like what are the top

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:

five things you want to do, right?

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:

So come up with the five

things that you're going to do.

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:

So that sort of core, , and then

clinic is actually going and doing

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:

those five things that you said

you wanted in the core step.

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and those can be big things

or small things, right?

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So it can be changing your LEDs.

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It could be saying we're gonna install,

, an EV charger so that when clients

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come, they can plug in their ev and,

and charge up, or we're gonna have bike

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:

racks, or we're going to, it doesn't

matter what it is, it's just, it's five

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:

environmentally minded activities that

are important to the people at the clinic.

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:

Right.

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And, , I'm a huge fan of,

just getting people starting.

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:

, I am a 12 month a year bike

commuter in, in Toronto.

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, and people look at me like

I'm crazy and, you could make

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:

that argument, but it didn't.

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:

I didn't go from like driving

every day to being a 12 month

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:

of the year bike commuter.

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:

You know, I drove to work and then, and

it was a beautiful day and I signed up

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:

for a charity bike ride , for the Farley

Foundation, which is a veterinary charity.

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:

and I needed to get in shape, so I would

start riding my bike on nice days, right.

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:

And then it was, you know, and it just

sort of built from there and it was like,

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:

Hey, I, I'm happier on the days that I.

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:

Right into work.

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:

So how can I extend it?

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:

So, so really those five steps , in

the, , green Pause certification are

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:

all about starting, getting things

going, getting people talking.

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:

And then the last two steps

are sharing information, right?

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:

Community is about, about sharing

this information with your staff, with

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:

your clients, and with your colleagues

to try to change people's behaviors,

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:

Andy: Yeah, that's, that's fantastic.

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:

Matthew: And so it's 10 steps and

it's relatively easy, 10 steps to do.

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:

We thought it was better to

have a, an easy program to get

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:

people sort of starting to think

about this rather than having it

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:

be, , something that was difficult

and that only a few, small handful

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:

of clinics would, would get behind.

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:

Andy: Well, Matthew, where

can people learn more about

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:

the Green PAW certification?

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:

, Matthew: the Veterinary Sustainability

Alliances website is, , veterinary

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:

sustainability alliance.org.

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, and on the website there are a

number of really good resources.

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:

So there you, there's the, , green

PO certification program with all

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:

of the forms you need to fill out.

427

:

. To, , get the certification on there.

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:

There's also a blog where the

directors have written various

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:

articles that it's updated, , as much

as we have time to write articles

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:

about sustainability, , initiatives.

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:

So there's lots of good information there.

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:

, and then the, the Veterinary

Sustainability Alliance in conjunction

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:

with the A BMA and the CVMA put together

some videos, , on sort of those steps

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:

of core clinic and community, , that

are really great resources as well.

435

:

There's, so there's, so there's

several videos on the website as

436

:

well, , that people can look at.

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:

Andy: Outstanding.

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:

Well, I'll link that stuff up.

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:

, Matthew, I'll put a link to your

LinkedIn, , page there as well in case

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:

Matthew: That'd be

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:

Andy: follow up with you and,

442

:

Matthew: Yeah, I, I

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:

Andy: eye on you.

444

:

Matthew: I could talk about this stuff

for hours, so if anyone has any questions,

445

:

they should feel free to reach out to me.

446

:

If I can't answer it, I might put you in,

in touch with one of the other directors.

447

:

, we've got a lot of

passion, , in the group, so

448

:

Andy: Well, thanks for being here guys.

449

:

Thanks for tuning in and listening.

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:

Everybody take care of yourselves, gang.

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:

Matthew: thanks a lot, Andy.

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:

Andy: And that's what I got for you guys.

453

:

I hope you enjoyed it.

454

:

Thanks to Matthew for being here.

455

:

Thanks to you, , for checking this out.

456

:

Guys.

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:

I hope that some of you'll go

take a look at the Green PAW

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:

certification and think about how

it might work in your vet clinics.

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:

I love the idea that there's things

that we can do to be a little bit

460

:

better for the environment, a little

bit better for our patients, a little

461

:

bit better for our communities.

462

:

And I, I think that that's true.

463

:

And so anyway, this is a, I I

thought it was an optimistic episode.

464

:

I really enjoy talking to Matthew.

465

:

Uh, it makes me think that there,

there's a lot of stuff that we can

466

:

do that actually makes a difference

and that, , that's always lovely.

467

:

Anyway, guys, take care of yourselves.

468

:

I'll talk to you later on.

469

:

Happy Earth Day everybody.

470

:

Bye.

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