Should you talk with your doctor about climate change

what if climate change

wasn’t just an environmental problem

what if it was a health problem too

what if your gp called to check how you

were managing your medications and fluid

intake

through yet another heat wave or to

adjust your asthma management plan

because of bushfire smoke

what if your gp was overwhelmed by

every patient on their books with asthma

or lung disease

suddenly struggling to breathe

far-fetched this happened last summer

our black summer when 80 of australia’s

population was exposed

to stifling heat and smoke for months on

end

i have a friend who’s a doctor in

adelaide an emergency doctor

in that extreme heat elderly people

previously well

and independent were presenting with

organ failure

many didn’t get home

i’m a doctor too and i have to admit

i’m scared i’m scared of the effect

climate change is having on our health

at only one degree of warming

i’m scared because even if we stop all

carbon emissions

now we still only have a 90

chance of limiting warming to 2 degrees

now that might seem like good odds but

would you board a plane that had a 10

chance of crashing

i want you to think about what makes

humans healthy for a moment

because at the end of the day human

health

is determined by the health of the

environment

it’s the air we breathe the water we

drink the food we eat

having thriving ecosystems and

a stable climate

years ago when i was a medical student i

got arrested

protesting against logging beautiful old

growth forests

i didn’t consciously make the link to

human health back then

i was just trying to save a beautiful

ecosystem

but it makes sense if we damage nature

enough

eventually we damage ourselves in 2009

premier medical journal the lancet was

so sure about the link between

climate change and human health that it

declared climate change to be the

greatest global health threat of the

21st century

yeah the greatest global health threat

the evidence was compelling 11 years ago

when covert 19 arrived states of

emergency were declared and whole

countries went into lockdown

our governments listened to our public

health experts

and acted decisively they acted on the

evidence

and we all made sacrifices to

prevent illness and death and it worked

just imagine if we had such a response

to climate change

just imagine if we’d started 11 years

ago

i mean do we want to wait until our own

neighborhoods are inundated

here in australia 34 died in our

bushfires last summer

but over 400 died from breathing

bushfire smoke which blanketed our skies

for months on

end now it’s america’s turn

already over 30 dead and 2.7 million

hectares burnt

and it will be months before they will

count the health cost of all that smoke

meanwhile heat waves cause increased

emergency department presentations

ambulance call outs and excess deaths

not only directly from heat but from

exacerbating underlying medical

conditions

like cardiovascular lung and kidney

disease

before the black saturday bushfires in

2009

that killed 173 people melbourne’s

morgues were already full

because twice that number had died in

the preceding heat wave

climate change further damages health by

eroding the social determinants of

health

employment living conditions social

cohesion

livelihoods dependent on

tourism and agriculture are particularly

vulnerable to damaged ecosystems

for example there are sixty thousand

jobs in tourism on the great barrier

reef

but our reef has already shrunk by 50

and we’re losing it fast

each year 100 million tourists flock to

florida’s sandy beaches

it’s the biggest tourism economy in the

world and employs two and a half

million people but miami beach and

florida keys will be

under water within 30 years regardless

of how deeply we cut our carbon

emissions

extreme weather events bush fires floods

cyclones and storms cause injury and

death damage property and infrastructure

but communities lose jobs and businesses

causing economic hardship and poorer

mental health

for many years to come ptsd

anxiety depression increased suicide

risk and poorer physical health follow

and climate change affects our mental

health directly

as well

already young people are presenting to

their gps with eco anxiety and fear of

the future

to know this word echo anxiety it’s one

of several

now used to describe the psychological

effects of climate change

and i’m grateful for this new

terminology because it’s not just the

young who are suffering

the thing is i think in our hearts all

of us are suffering to some degree

if we let ourselves stop and think

i visit the forest that i love with a

lot of sadness these days as well as joy

my favorite walks are never going to be

the same after repeated fire

and i worry for our for our indigenous

and first nations peoples

whose connection to country is so much

deeper than my own

there’s a word for this too

solastalgia soul nostalgia is derived

from words meaning comfort

and pain it’s the homesickness you get

when you’re still at home

but your environment has been damaged or

changed

do you ever experience this are there

places from your childhood

that have changed that you miss even as

you visit them

oh sorry it’s a bit depressing but i’m

nearly finished that part i promise

so with worsening impacts globally

climate refugees will increase

and conflict will increase and it goes

without saying both are terrible for

health

climate change already caused 21.5

million displacements every year between

2008

and 2016 and it will get worse

so luckily for all of us i’m not the

only doctor getting more and more

alarmed

at last a climate health emergency has

been declared

by medical organizations all over the

world

and by our australian medical

association

in fact recently organizations

representing seventy five percent of

australia’s doctors

wrote to our prime minister urging him

to make the economic recovery from

covert 19 a healthy recovery

one that addressed that other health

emergency climate change

sadly he didn’t seem to follow doctor’s

orders last week but

there’s still time and we there could be

such a lot of win-win if we do this

let me explain so we know that the main

driver of climate change is the mining

and burning of fossil fuels right

but coal oil and gas impact our health

directly

as well as via climate change their

combustion

releases deadly air pollution which

causes

four point two million premature deaths

globally every year

and three thousand in australia yeah

three thousand you thought we had clean

air

that’s double our national road toll we

hear about the road toll all the time in

the news

never hear about our air pollution

deaths

in australia air pollution contributes

to all our major causes of your health

chronic airways disease asthma heart

disease

strokes and cancer it increases rates of

diabetes and dementia

and adverse outcomes in pregnancy and

it’s costly

in europe the health burden of coal

alone is 70 billion us dollars every

year

that’s the equivalent of the national

gdp of slovenia

or zambia transport and vehicle

emissions make up about

25 percent of global greenhouse gas

emissions

but about half the harm from air

pollution in australia

and we drive the dirtiest cars in the

developed world

because our vehicle emission standards

are so lacks

so out of date and we get the cars

nobody else wants

the ones that they can’t sell in europe

and the uk anymore

i know you couldn’t make it up right and

this is why

although it’s the greatest global health

threat

climb tackling climate change could be

the greatest global health

opportunity of the 21st century it’s a

win-win

climate action is has so many

co-benefits for human health air

pollution related deaths and disease

will drop as renewable energy replaces

coal and gas in our electricity

grids and as we electrify transport

better still good public transport and

safe facilities for active transport

walking and cycling will get us out of

our cars and reduce rates of obesity

type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular

disease

investing in sustainable cities with

highly energy efficient building stock

more tree cover more green space will

reduce the summer heat island effect

and improve our mental health such a

city will develop

strong communities reduce social

inequality

and encourage active engagement to the

solutions to the climate crisis

if we change our food systems to provide

plant-rich diets that are affordable

will reduce livestock

methane emissions and

and improve our health

regenerative agriculture will ensure our

food production

is a net win for biodiversity

and carbon sequestration and

public health would expand to become the

largest part of our health system

from the smallpox vaccine to sanitation

time and time again major advancements

in human health have been due to public

health

it’s the most powerful medicine we have

and we need it now like at no other time

in human history and we need our

governments to lead in this

transformation

as they have led in the pandemic but

that doesn’t stop powerful action by

individuals

and communities being essential

and that’s where you come in

so how much do we worry about our own

health

how much time and money do we invest

every day

trying to improve our health what if we

allow the climate health emergency

to drive our every action for our health

and the planet’s health what would that

look like

on a personal level so here’s the

takeaway

there are four things you could change

food

energy money and community

boy do we obsess about our diet right

but a climate-friendly diet is a

healthier diet

it’s less meat less dairy more plants

how about loads of home-grown vegetables

especially the red ones

slow cooked in olive oil it’s the secret

of the long life of my first generation

greek and italian patients

they turn up on my rehab unit with a

joint replacement at the age of 87

and they’re still growing their own

tomatoes

energy one phone call

is all you need to switch to green power

100 renewable energy and if you’re lucky

enough to own your own home

install solar pv electrify your heating

and your cooking

then disconnect your gas drive less

walk or cycle more do you really need

that car

have you ever tried car share your next

car is going to be an ev right

money who do you bank with

are they still invested in fossil fuels

where’s your super

has just has your pension fund divested

yet many have not

money is powerful and it is 100

in our control

and last but not least community

start with your own family and friends

join a group that visits politicians

and advocates climate action

connect with your neighbours start

actions with them because strong

communities are resilient in the face of

extreme weather

but most importantly community is good

for our mental health

action with others is a terrific

antidepressant

trust me

the solutions for protecting our health

and stabilizing the climate

already exist in fact they co-exist

so together like covered 19 we can

tackle the climate health emergency

and have a better chance of saving

ourselves

and our children’s future thank you