Climate change the public health challenge of the 21st century
Wednesday, 27 June 2007
Climate change was the public health challenge of the 21st century and will come to dwarf all others, independent consultant Jenny Griffiths told delegates in the Initiatives towards achieving sustainable development parallel session.
The NHS needed to lead the way and set an example, she said, as climate change and sustainable development were crucial to public health. ‘We all need to act more resolutely in our personal and professional lives' she said, adding that there was still time to avoid the worst effects of climate change if strong collective action began now. ‘We need to talk to the public about reducing carbon emissions as a public health issue, in the same way as we talk about smoking and obesity,' she added.
The Faculty's new President Alan Maryon Davis urged delegates to use their networking power at local, national and international level not just to try and prevent climate change but to deal with and mitigate it. ‘There will be massive population movements internationally,' he said, ‘and we have to manage that migration.
‘The UK led the way with the industrial revolution, let us lead the post industrial revolution as well,' he continued, ‘and set an example to the world to pull back from the headlong pursuit of profit and consumption.'
Director of the South East Public Health Observatory Alison Hill urged all delegates to sign up to the Convergence of Health and Sustainable Development Manifesto, and to use their networks to persuade NHS Trusts and all other partners to do the same. ‘We know how difficult behaviour change is. If we can't make the change ourselves it's going to be a pretty bleak future,' she said.
The Faculty was making sure that it got its own house in order and led by example, said Policy Officer Lindsey Stewart. It was carrying out a structural review of the Faculty committees with a view to looking at issues like increased teleconferencing and using technology such as video conferencing and email networks to reduce the amount of unnecessary travel to meetings.
All the Faculty's publications were produced on paper from sustainable sources, she said, and it was carrying out a carbon audit of the entire conference to act as a benchmark for staging future events. But most of all it wanted to engage with its membership on this most crucial of issues, and urged all members to email their views and suggestions to policy@fph.org.uk