Climate change, inequality & the nature deficit disorder
Wednesday 4 June 2008
'Inequality is bad for you...It may drive the economy to a certain extent, but it is not the richest countries who are happiest with their lot. It is the most equal.'
Jonathon Porritt
'Climate change is happening,' Chair of the UK Sustainable Development Commission Jonathon Porritt told delegates in Wednesday morning's Public health and climate change session. 'It is accelerating and it's going to be bad. This is the deal – we really do know this now.' We were now moving out of an ‘extraordinary era' of human history, he said, from an era of cheap oil to one of extremely expensive oil. 'The world will look very different as a consequence and it will be a bigger shock than most people understand.'
People in the west have been getting richer but have not been getting any happier, he said. 'And it is the business of getting richer that is effectively destroying life on earth.' It is extraordinary that, even as food shortages are making a comeback, there are as many obese people in the world as there are people suffering from hunger. 'Our economy is dependent on extremely high levels of consumerism,' he said, and these increased patterns of consumption go hand in hand with 'astonishing increases' in personal debt. 'This leads directly to increased stress, which then leads back to increased consumption,' he said. 'It's a vicious circle.'
The only antidote is to temper some of this ‘near insane' growth with sustainable development, he said. This means living within environmental limits and with an economy that secures a strong, healthy, just society. 'Inequality is bad for you,' he said. 'It may drive the economy to a certain extent, but it is not the richest countries who are happiest with their lot. It is the most equal.'
A growing number of people's lives are also diminished by lack of contact with the natural world, he said, something he referred to as 'the nature deficit disorder.' 'Contact with the natural world has a positive impact on a whole range of health parameters. There is incredibly strong evidence to back this up.' It is a virtuous circle, he said, as people with access to green space are mentally healthier and more likely to do exercise, and so are less of a burden on the state.
Other health benefits of tackling climate change include the elimination of fuel poverty. 'It is extraordinary that there are between 1.4 and 1.8m people in the UK living in housing conditions that are not fit for purpose,' he said. 'The government needs to address this.'
'In terms of conditions for individuals, for communities and the state of health in the UK, sustainable development and climate change are one and the same thing. This is the convergence that we need to emphasise.'
Watch Sir Jonathon Porritt's speech as part of the plenary session: Public health and climate change