Photography – Malua Bay Beach, Barb Lewis
Surf Beach general practitioner, Dr James Langley, shared this account of his experiences of the bushfires in the Australian Medical Association’s newsletter.
Describing a range of impacts on healthcare provision in Eurobodalla at that time, Dr James spoke about the months after the flames receded.
Read on !
Despite the earth’s alarming vital signs, action by governments & world leaders to cool the planet is happening too slowly.
So doctors around the world are taking action and using their voices …
In September 2021, peak medical journals across the globe called for urgent action from governments and other world leaders to rapidly reduce emissions, in order to keep the rise in global temperature to below 1.5 degrees.
The editorial was signed and published in over 300 important medical journals across the world, including the Medical Journal of Australia.
Here are its key points as excerpts –
‘ Health is already being harmed by global temperature increases and the destruction of the natural world, a state of affairs health professionals have been bringing attention to for decades. The science is unequivocal; a global increase of 1.5°C above the pre-industrial average and the continued loss of biodiversity risk catastrophic harm to health that will be impossible to reverse. ‘
‘ Despite the world’s necessary preoccupation with covid-19, we cannot wait for the pandemic to pass to rapidly reduce emissions.’
‘ The greatest threat to global public health is the continued failure of world leaders to keep the global temperature rise below 1.5°C and to restore nature. Urgent, society-wide changes must be made and will lead to a fairer and healthier world. We, as editors of health journals, call for governments and other leaders to act, marking 2021 as the year that the world finally changes course. ‘
Call for emergency action to limit global temperature increases, restore biodiversity, and protect health, Sept 2021
You can read the editorial in full published here – along with 300 other peak medical journals
https://www.bmj.com/content/374/bmj.n1734
POSTSCRIPT – The world is not on track to keeping global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees : ‘World now likely to hit watershed 1.5 °C rise in next five years, warns UN weather agency’
Eurobodalla’s Dr Michelle Hamrosi speaks up for our community after the 2019-2020 Fires.
