Economic Growth and Health Poster
Submitted by David Shearman on Thu, 01/10/2009 - 12:32.
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The words ‘economic growth’ appear in most news bulletins and political articles in the press. This poster raises the issue that growth in many ways is a health hazard for it is incompatible with a sustainable future for humanity.
In Western society progress is equated with economic growth. It is argued that wealth creation has allowed us to spend more on environmental and health objectives and certainly human health in many societies has improved immeasurably during the twentieth century.
DEA and Medical Observer - Prescription for a Healthier Planet
Submitted by David Shearman on Tue, 04/08/2009 - 00:55.
DEA and Medical Observer have prepared the "Prescription for a Healthier Planet" brochure. The effects of climate change pose the most serious of threats to the health of the world’s population. The potential consequences of global warming include increased storms, droughts and floods. In regions with already marginal water supply, billions could face further water stress. Disturbingly, it’s predicted some of these effects could be seen by 2020. Of the developed nations, Australia is most vulnerable to the dangerous outcome of climate change. Continued warming will lead to a massive loss of farmable land and food production; amongst the health risks are increased deaths and distress from heat-related illnesses and the exposure of millions to mosquito-borne diseases such as Dengue Fever; ecosystems such as the Great Barrier Reef and Kakadu will be irreversibly damaged.
Transport and Health Poster
Submitted by David Shearman on Tue, 25/11/2008 - 00:05.
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Doctors regularly see the adverse effects of private motor vehicles via patients injured in road traffic accidents. Despite the number of fatalities halving over the last 30 years due to random breath testing and improved road and vehicle design, Australia still recorded 1611 road crash deaths in 2007. (1) It has been predicted that by 2020 traffic accidents will be the third largest cause of global disability adjusted life years lost. (2)
Climate Change Health Check 2020
Submitted by David Shearman on Fri, 04/04/2008 - 17:42.
Dr Graeme Horton
Professor Tony McMichael
Doctors for the Environment, Australia
April 2008
A report prepared for the Climate Institute of Australia in relation to World Health Day on April 7, 2008 for which the World Health Organisation’s theme is ‘Protecting Health from Climate Change’.
Click here to read the full report.
Climate Change and Health Poster
Submitted by David Shearman on Sat, 01/12/2007 - 00:55.
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Why is climate change so serious?
Climate change happens when the earth heats up because of too much carbon dioxide and other ‘greenhouse gases’ in the atmosphere.
Climate change is already happening. Temperatures and sea levels are rising and rainfall is changing. The CSIRO predicts that by 2030, annual average temperatures in Australia may be up to 2.0°C higher than in 1990.
Biodiversity Poster
Submitted by David Shearman on Sat, 01/12/2007 - 00:54.
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The importance of biodiversity to your life and health
The single most important factor in the health of each person is not the availability of good health services, or effective cancer drugs, or short waiting lists or state of the art accident services, it is the integrity of the Earth’s ecological services. Perhaps this is an understatement for it is the only factor of consequence. Without ecological services, the Earth would be ‘dead’ like many other planets including our neighbouring planets in the solar system. It follows that the protection of ecological services is integral to maintaining all advances we have made in medical science and in providing a future for further advances.
Election Manifesto on the Health Impacts of Coal Pollution and Renewable Energy
Submitted by David Shearman on Mon, 19/07/2010 - 00:41. Reports on Climate ChangeGovernments are rightly concerned about the delivery of health services through hospitals and clinics. Equally important is the prevention of ill health (preventative medicine) through such measures as vaccination, cessation of smoking, healthy life style and removal of carcinogens and pollutants from our environment.
Doctors use the term co-benefit when we can have a health win, commensurate with a government decision on another need. For example development of good public transport has been shown to improve health because people get out of their cars and walk to the bus. There is less pollution of cities and greenhouse emissions. There are cost savings to health which can be offset against the cost of public transport infrastructure.
Greening our prescriptions by Dr Rosemary Stanton
Submitted by David Shearman on Fri, 09/07/2010 - 18:39. Reports on Climate ChangeThis article is authored by Dr Rosemary Stanton OAM, member of DEA Scientific Advisory Committee, nutritionist and Visiting Fellow in the School of Medical Sciences at the University of New South Wales. It highlights environmental factors which can help motivate our patients to eat healthily.
The article appeared in Medical Observer in the DEA column The link is here.
It can be difficult to convince many people need to change their eating and exercise habits.. Could a new perspective on food provide a more effective motive?
Pharmaceuticals; Permanent Pollutants in the Environment
Submitted by David Shearman on Mon, 21/06/2010 - 17:17. Reports on Health and the EnvironmentThis article prepared for the ISDE web site raises the issue of pharmaceuticals in the environment and their possible appearance in recycled water, a highly relevant topic as we move to a world with water scarcity. This is a comprehensive review of how pharmaceuticals reach the environment and their possible harmful effects. Click here to read the full article.
The Gulf of Mexico oil calamity—a blessing in disguise?
Submitted by David Shearman on Sat, 19/06/2010 - 19:21. Reports on Climate Change | Reports on Health and the EnvironmentMany have thought that action on climate change may have to await a calamity. The question is whether the Gulf oil spill will change the course of history by encouraging the USA to serious development of alternative energy.
Furthermore will this spill draw attention to the appalling environmental and health impact of Big Oil around the world and make it more difficult to exploit poor legislation in developing countries and the political process in the rich countries.
History suggests business will be as usual. In 1989 the Exxon Valdez spill of 11 million gallons was the worst in American history. It damaged 1,300 miles of shoreline, disrupting the lives and livelihoods of people in the region and killing hundreds of thousands of birds and marine animals. Despite the clean-up, oil remains on beaches and the ecology has not recovered. The herring fishing was lost completely. After 20 years in court $500m damages was awarded, a pittance.
Requiem for a Species by Clive Hamilton. Book review
Submitted by David Shearman on Fri, 18/06/2010 - 19:26. Reports on Climate ChangeFrank Fenner is quoted in a recent article in the Australian said "We're going to become extinct, whatever we do now is too late."
“The Aborigines showed that without science and the production of carbon dioxide and global warming, they could survive for 40,000 or 50,000 years. But the world can't. The human species is likely to go the same way as many of the species that we've seen disappear. Homo sapiens will become extinct, perhaps within 100 years, a lot of other animals will, too. It's an irreversible situation. I think it's too late. I try not to express that because people are trying to do something, but they keep putting it off. Mitigation would slow things down a bit, but there are too many people here already."
Toward a Mercury Treaty that protects public health: A health sector platform
Submitted by David Shearman on Thu, 27/05/2010 - 22:44. Reports on Health and the EnvironmentThis proposed Treaty is promoted by four organisations of Which the Internatioanl Society of Doctors for the Environment (ISDE) is one.
ISDE is DEA's parent body.
I remind you that by being a member of DEA you are part of in international organisation which works on a whole range of health issues. Furthermore this particular initiative is highly relevant to two DEA initiatives. In greening hospitals and clinics we must note proposals which we can all pursue in our own work places. In our "Coal is a Health Hazard" initiative we can recognise and educate on the role of coal combustion in mercury pollution. In educating about this issue we will soon have the backing of international agreement for action
American Cancer Society Trivializes Cancer Risks: Blatant Conflicts of Interest
Submitted by David Shearman on Sun, 23/05/2010 - 17:05. MiscellaneousThe US President’s Cancer Panel (PCP) has produced its biennial report and it is on Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk; what we can do now click here
This is the first time the PCP has focused on environmental causes of cancer, stating that “the true burden of environmentally induced cancers has been grossly underestimated” and strongly urging action to reduce widespread exposure to carcinogens.
The background to the report and the criticisms of the report from various sources are reviewed in Health and Environment click here
Polluted by profit: Johann Hari on the real Climategate
Submitted by David Shearman on Sat, 22/05/2010 - 10:50. Reports on Climate ChangeGlobal warming - and the worst environmental disasters - will only be tackled when green lobbyists in the US stop taking cash from Big Oil and Big Coal
This article appeared in the independent (UK) Friday, 21 May 2010. We thank the Independent and Johann Hari for permission to re-publish.
Why did America's leading environmental groups jet to Copenhagen to lobby for policies that will lead to the faster death of the rainforests – and runaway global warming? Why are their staff dismissing the only real solutions to climate change as "unworkable" and "unrealistic"? Why are they clambering into corporate "partnerships" with BP, which is responsible for the worst oil spill in living memory?
Ecological Services and Human Health
Submitted by David Shearman on Mon, 10/05/2010 - 20:06. Reports on Climate ChangeMany of us have had the experience of briefing an elected representative on climate change and have mentioned the impact of climate change on ecological services. This is often met with a glazed look, so we go onto explain that these services are essential to human health and life—they are our life support system. If the politician has not lost interest the question may come forth, “What do you mean? What are they?” We then quote the standard reply that they are provision of food, fiber, purified water, degradation of wastes and pollutants, recycling of nutrients, stabilization of climate.
A Sustainable Population for Australia; a draft position paper from Doctors for the Environment Australia
Submitted by David Shearman on Mon, 12/04/2010 - 12:29. Population and the Environment | Reports on Climate ChangeRecommendation
Doctors for the Environment Australia recommends that a national task force be formed to prepare a scientific report on an environmentally sustainable population for Australia.
This report must be based upon scientific, demographic and health science and not on the opinions of community sectors with conflicts of interest. The intent will be to provide the data upon which government policy can be reliably based.
Some facts
Projections suggest that world population, currently 6.8 billion, will reach 9.1 billion by 2050.
DEA at the World Congress of Internal Medicine, Melbourne
Submitted by David Shearman on Wed, 31/03/2010 - 12:31. Reports on Climate ChangeAre we keeping up with Green Technological Innovation?
Submitted by David Shearman on Tue, 30/03/2010 - 16:28. Reports on Climate ChangeAfter the shock and depression of Copenhagen some good news is starting to appear. The President of the Maldives has advised that the argument in favour of emission control should be reborn in economics and security. His country, at sea level, is in danger of inundation. The President has said that switching to wind and solar power makes good economic sense and he has pledged his country to become carbon neutral by 2020, so we might ask what is being done within the confines of the Copenhagen Accord before the next summit in Cancun, Mexico, from November 29 to December 1
As of today, a total of 73 countries — 40 developed countries and 33 developing countries have submitted targets or actions to the UN Secretariat Click here You can read about this further here It is a good start after the disagreements in Copenhagen