13 November 2006

Health Professionals and Climate Change

The British Medical Journal has set up a "carbon council" with the objective of harnessing the intelligence and imagination of health professionals to expedite the transition to a low carbon world.

The four aims of the council are:

- to recruit as many health professional as possible to act and act now
- to identify the most effective low carbon policies that when implemented will reduce greenhouse gas emissions
- to establish a coalition of health professionals to act as policy advocates nationally and internationally
- to encourage individual lifestyle change among health professionals around the world

Climate change related rises in sea level and changing food growing patterns will lead to massive social disruption, with the increased likelihood of resource wars, the spread of many "tropical" diseases, and a greatly increased burden of ill health. The BMJ's contribution will be to present the evidence for the health damaging impacts of climate change, both in the developed and developing world, and the health benefits of moving towards low carbon living.

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