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