November 9, 2020 - Doctors for the Environment Australia has welcomed the NSW Government’s electricity infrastructure roadmap for the orderly switch of NSW’s energy supply from coal to renewable energy sources. The burning of ...
Health & Energy
Health & Energy covers a lot of topics we hear about every day, including Coal, Natural Gas, Renewable Energy, Transport, and The Built Environment.
Please click the titles below to read more about each of these topics.
Coal is a major source of rising greenhouse gas causing climate change. The burning of coal emits hazardous air pollutants, including particulate matter, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide, mercury and arsenic. Australia has one of the most carbon intensive and polluting electricity supplies in the world. By investing in renewable energy sources and rapidly transitioning from fossil fuels, we can save lives and improve health immediately due to improved local environments, prevent unmanageable climate change with its associated devastating health consequences, and make sound economic investments in Australia’s future. The fossil gas industry is a major source of the powerful greenhouse gas methane which is responsible for around 25% of global heating. Gas also contributes significantly to rising levels of carbon dioxide. Leadership on addressing climate change involves an urgent increase in the use of renewable energy to replace greenhouse gas-producing fossil fuels. The use of fossil fuels for energy production is harmful to health both within Australia and internationally. The co-benefits of renewable energy are a reduction in the huge health costs from fossil fuel pollution. A more rapid increase in renewable energy deployment is essential in fulfilling Australia’s commitment to green-house emission abatement and in holding world temperature rise to less than 2°C, in accordance with the Paris Agreement. Transport is both a major source of greenhouse gas increases and an important source of air pollution causing multiple health problems. Active transport in walking and cycling mitigates both these effects and reduces the incidence of diabetes, obesity and hypertension by reducing sedentary behaviours. Investment in efficient electrified public transport is an investment in health. The way our public buildings and private dwellings are built and the sort of energy they require are important factors in mitigating climate change and optimising a liveable environment. Urban design to promote green spaces and reduce vehicle pollution brings multiple health benefits. Coal
Natural Gas
Gas extraction is polluting. Good health is dependent on having clean air, clean water, a safe sustainable food supply and a stable climate. There are serious threats to these determinants of health from unconventional gas development. They relate to water, land and air pollution by chemicals used and mobilised in the process, water security, degradation of productive agricultural land, community health and loss of livelihood and landscape. Renewable Energy
Transport
The Built Environment
The Mandarin Opinion: health, not gas, should be put at the centre of Australia’s economic recovery
October 21, 2020 - “In a future where climate change looms large as a threat to health and where our primary disease burden is shaped by lifestyle and environment, shouldn’t we place health front ...
2020 Federal Budget: Vales Point should be given pollution fees not grants
October 8, 2020 - Inclusion of a grant in the federal budget for Vales Point power station is an outrageous misuse of public funds, says Doctors for the Environment Australia’s spokesperson Dr Ben Ewald. ...
Submission to the Environment and Planning Committee of the Victorian Legislative Assembly (5 Oct 2020)
October 5, 2020 - The Environment and Planning Committee of the Victorian Legislative Assembly has called for submissions to an inquiry into the current and future arrangements to secure environmental infrastructure, particularly parks and ...
Narrabri decision ignores the health risks, doctors warn
September 30, 2020 - The approval of the Narrabri gas project has failed to adequately consider the health risks and it should have been rejected, according to medical doctors. Dr John Van Der Kallen, NSW Co-Chair ...
The Mercury Talking Point: Support your kids in climate strike today
September 25, 2020 - The health of the planet and human health are intimately linked and putting public money into climate-wrecking fossil fuels such as gas is one road map we don’t want to ...
New report reveals the health costs of coal-fired power stations
September 16, 2020 - Australia’s power stations are located near regional towns such as Morwell, Victoria, Muswellbrook, New South Wales, and Gladstone, Queensland, or in rural areas well away from cities, writes Dr Ben ...
The Driven: Electric buses and trains are the answer, not more cars
September 9, 2020 - COVID-19 has infected and killed over 500 people in Australia and impacted thousands more. Dr Graeme McLeay and A/Prof Vicki Kotsirilos AM state that there is, however, another silent and ...
Canberra Times: Coronavirus: Doctors urge government to lock-in COVID-19 emission reductions
September 2, 2020 - As emissions plunge to their lowest levels in 30 years as a result of COVID-19, and the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reductions Angus Taylor pushes for the Clean Energy ...
A Stronger Tomorrow – State Infrastructure Strategy discussion paper (1 Sept 2020)
September 1, 2020 - The Western Australian government recently called for submissions on their A Stronger Tomorrow – State Infrastructure Strategy discussion paper. DEA supports the concept and proposal of taking a long term ...
Submission to the EES for the proposed AGL/APA Gas Import Jetty and Pipeline Project at Western Port, Victoria (26 Aug 2020)
August 26, 2020 - AGL and APA are seeking approval for the building of an LNG import facility and pipeline in Western Port, Victoria. The area is environmentally sensitive, in the middle of a ...
Resources Sector Regulation draft report (20 Aug 2020)
August 20, 2020 - DEA recently provided input into the Productivity Commission’s Draft Report on Resources Sector Regulation as regulation of this sector has the task of balancing economic gains from extraction with losses ...
Eco anxiety as the earth continues to heat
August 6, 2020 - Dr Lucy Watt writes “I am an “eco-worrier”. I worry about the environmental nightmare that climate change has in store for us, our children and their children.” While reading the ...
Newcastle Herald: Clean air should be a right not a dirty secret
July 27, 2020 - The summer’s bushfires blanketed Australia’s east coast with thick smoke, writes Dr Bob Vickers. But even when we don’t have bushfires, Australians are still being exposed to harmful air pollution ...
Supplementary Submission to Narrabri Gas Project (22 July 2020)
July 24, 2020 - DEA strongly opposes the Narrabri Gas Project and submitted its first submission to object to the Narrabri Gas Project in 2017. This supplementary submission addresses the inadequacies and deficiencies in ...
Submission to the NSW Independent Planning Commission regarding the Vickery Extension Project
July 15, 2020 - It is the position of DEA that ongoing coal mining and combustion poses an unacceptable health risk due to greenhouse gas emissions. DEA is one of many health and medical ...
Submission on Urannah dam and pipelines project and Collinsville irrigation scheme project (14 July 2020)
July 14, 2020 - DEA has provided a submission on the Proposed Actions 2020/8708 and 2020/8709 . DEA recommends that both actions be assessed under the EPBC Act as they are likely to have ...
Media release: doctors’ group warns against proposed gas facility in Geelong
July 13, 2020 - Doctors have described Viva Energy’s proposed gas import and storage facility in North Geelong as a folly, warning that it poses risks to the local environment and to the health ...
Canberra Times: Climate change is the next health crisis we face
July 8, 2020 - Covid-19 has its challenges, especially in Victoria at the moment. Dr Beau Frigault writes that generally, though, Australia relative to other parts of the world has managed the pandemic well. ...
Submission: Australia’s Technology Investment Roadmap
June 30, 2020 - The Australian Government invited brief commentary on their Technology Roadmap to guide investment in energy generation over the next few decades. One key concept in this Roadmap is the notion ...