Doctors Talk Climate, Finally
Posted by feww on September 16, 2009
Alas, they couldn’t break out of the ‘matrix’ that is structured around the U.N.
What did the doctors say?
The world will face a “global health catastrophe” unless governments agree deep cuts in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as part of a new U.N. treaty in Copenhagen in December, say 18 of the world’s medical organizations.
“What’s good for the climate is good for health,” said their editorial in the British Medical Journal and The Lancet today.
Florida’s Seminole coal-fired power plant is one of about 400 power generating plants across the United States that emit GHG. (Photo courtesy of Seminole Electric Co-op)
“There is a real danger that politicians will be indecisive, especially in such turbulent economic times as these,” said a letter signed by leading doctors from 18 medical colleges and medical organizations globally.
They warned: “Should their response be weak, the results for international health could be catastrophic.”
Unless a solid agreement is reached in Copenhagen by the 190 participating nations to curb GHG emissions, “heatwaves, floods and desertification that would disrupt water supplies and cause malnutrition and disease, especially in poor nations.” A report said.
“Failure to agree radical reductions in emissions spells a global health catastrophe,” said the editorial authors Michael Jay, chair of the Merlin medical relief charity, and Michael Marmot, director of the International Institute for Society and Health, media reported.
“The measures needed to combat climate change coincide with those needed to ensure a healthier population and reduce the burden on health services. A low carbon economy will mean less pollution,” the editorial said.
“A low-carbon diet (especially eating less meat) and more exercise will mean less cancer, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Opportunity, surely, not cost.”
[How about grounding world’s fleets of military and passenger jets, too?]
“While the poorest in the world will be the first affected, none will be spared,” the editorial said. ” As leaders of physicians across many countries, we call on doctors to demand that their politicians listen to the clear facts that have been identified in relation to climate change and act now,” they wrote.
“Even without climate change, the case for clean power, electric cars, saving forests, energy efficiency, and new agriculture technology is strong.
“Climate change makes it unanswerable.” They wrote.
“A low-carbon economy will mean less pollution. A low carbon-diet (especially eating less meat) and more exercise will mean less cancer, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.”
Copenhagen will host representatives from about 190 nation, December 7-18, who plan to draw up a comprehensive treaty as a follow-on to the Kyoto Protocol, which was designed to obligate developed nations to cut GHG emissions.
FEWW has no estimate concerning the carbon footprint of the UN Copenhagen extravaganza.
Copenhagen Climate Conference 2009 would probably be as successful as the Kyoto Protocol, possibly worse!
Related Links:
- The Deadly Dozen, the Dirty Dozen, the Dozen Dozen
- Stick the Policies, Stop the Climate Change!
- Climate Change Spreads “Deadly Dozen” Diseases
Fire Earth 
Pollution Kills, OK? « Fire Earth said
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