[Vision2020] 10-17-11: British Medical Journal Statement: Urgent Action on Climate Change

[Ted Moffett]

Note the proposed goal in the following statement from the British
Medical Journal of a 30 percent EU reduction in greenhouse gas
emissions by 2020 from 1990 levels, compared to the Moscow City 20 by
2020 reduction goal below 2005 level. Read my response on this issue
from the U of I Argonaut:
http://hercules.argonaut.uidaho.edu/content/view/10557/48/
--------------------
The following statement was issued at a conference on the health and
security implications of climate change in London on 17th October
2011:-

http://climatechange.bmj.com/statement

Statement Calling for Urgent Action on Climate Change

Climate change poses an immediate, growing and grave threat to the
health and security of people in both developed and developing
countries around the globe.

Climate change leads to more frequent and extreme weather events and
to conditions that favour the spread of infectious diseases. Rising
sea levels, floods and droughts cause loss of habitat, water and food
shortages, and threats to livelihood. These trigger conflict within
and between countries. Humanitarian crises will further burden
military resources through the need for rescue missions and aid. Mass
migration will also increase, triggered by both environmental stress
and conflict, thus leading to serious further security issues. It will
often not be possible to adapt meaningfully to these changes, and the
economic cost will be enormous. As in medicine, prevention is the best
solution.

Action to tackle climate change not only reduces the risks to our
environment and global stability but also offers significant health
co-benefits.[i] Changes in power generation improve air quality.
Modest life style changes – such as increasing physical activity
through walking and cycling - will cut rates of heart disease and
stroke, obesity, diabetes, breast cancer, dementia and depressive
illness.  Climate change mitigation policies would thus significantly
cut rates of preventable death and disability for hundreds of millions
of people around the world.

The health co-benefits of lower carbon use save money: reducing EU
greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2020 (compared to 1990 levels)
would save over €80 billion a year in healthcare costs and through
increased productivity of a healthier workforce[ii].

We therefore call upon governments around the world to prioritise
efforts to address the causes and impacts of climate change.
Specifically we urge:

The European Union to unconditionally agree a target to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions domestically by 30% by 2020, and to prepare
further targets towards 2050 which would incentivise the
decarbonisation of the economy.

Developed countries to adopt more ambitious greenhouse gas reduction
targets, to increase their support for low carbon development and to
invest in further research into the impact of climate change on health
and security.

Developing countries to actively identify the key ways in which
climate change threatens health and democratic governance, as well as
undertaking mitigation and adaptation activities, including through
supported and unsupported NAMAs.

All governments to enact legislative and regulatory change to stop the
building of new unabated coal-fired power stations and phase out the
continuing operation of existing plants prioritising lignite
generation as most harmful to health.

All parties at the climate change conference in Durban, South Africa,
to strive to adopt an ambitious greenhouse gas emission reduction
agreement consistent with the target of restricting the global
temperature rise to 2°C as agreed in Copenhagen and Cancun, and in
line with the pending UNFCCC review towards a 1.5°C limit above
preindustrial levels. A mechanism ensuring that all people can share
equitably the benefits of a safe atmosphere without penalising those
with the least historical responsibility for climate change must be
established.

All governments to incorporate the UN Security Council Presidential
statement from 20 July 2011 on the potential consequences of climate
change on security into their short and long term security
planning[iii].

All governments to strive to adopt climate change mitigation targets
and policies that are more ambitious than their international
commitments.
___________________________________________________________________________________

i  Public health benefits of strategies to reduce greenhouse-gas
emissions: overview and implications for policy makers. Haines A,
McMichael AJ, Smith KR, Roberts I, Woodcock J, Markandya A, Armstrong
BG, Campbell-Lendrum D, Dangour AD, Davies M, Bruce N, Tonne C,
Barrett M, Wilkinson P.    Lancet 2009; 374: 2104-14
ii "Acting Now for better health, A 30% reduction target for EU
climate policy", HEAL and HCWHE, Brussels, September 2010
iii Security Council Presidential Statement, Jul 20, 2011
____________________________________________________________

Signatories

Dr Fiona Godlee, Editor in chief, BMJ (British Medical Journal)

Dr Hamish Meldrum, Chairman of Council, British Medical Association

Professor Hugh Montgomery, Professor of Intensive Care Medicine at
University College London and Director of the UCL Institute for Human
Health and Performance

Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, former president of the Royal College of Physicians

Dr Richard Horton, Editor-in-chief, The Lancet

Dr. Hege Gjessing, President, Norwegian Medical Association

Dr Heidi Stensmyren, Vice-president Swedish Medical Association

Dr Bjørn Oscar Hoftvedt, Norwegian Medical Association

Mr Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director, Greenpeace International, on
behalf of  Prof. Raul Benet, Professor of Environment and Development,
Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Richard Blewitt, CEO, HelpAge
International, on behalf of  Dr Johannes Meier, CEO European Climate
Foundation

Gheorge Borcean, Vice President, Romanian College of Physicians

Dr Lars T Fadnes, PhD, Chair of the Norwegian network on climate and
health and researcher at the Centre for International Health, on
behalf of the Norwegian network on climate and health

Christopher Pleyer, President, International Federation of Medical
Students Associations

Roopa Dhatt, Vice President International Federation of Medical
Students Associations

Vojko Bernard, President, Alpe

Professor Gunnar Kvåle, Centre for International Health, Norway

Lord Michael Jay of Ewelme ­ Chairman of Merlin

David Pencheon, Director, NHS Sustainable Development Unit (England)

David Kidney, Head of Policy, Chartered Institute of Environmental Health

Lynda Hamlyn, Chief Executive, NHS Blood and Transplant

Professor Anthony Costello, Director UCL Institute for Global Health

David Braun, 2nd Secretary, Embassy of Switzerland, London

Professor Bill McGuire, Professor of Geophysical& Climate Hazards,
Department of Earth Sciences, University College London

Prof Sue Atkinson CBE, Former Regional Director of Public Health for
London, Co-chair Climate and Health Council

Professor Adrian M Lister, Research Leader, Department of
Paleontology, The Natural History Museum

Professor Tim Lang, Professor of Food Policy, City University London

Tom Spencer, Vice Chairman Institute for Environmental Security

Cristina Tirado , Director, PHI Center for Public Health and Climate Change

Dr Robin Stott, Co-chair Climate and Health Council

Prof Ian Gough, Professorial Research Fellow, LSE

Dr Gunhild Stordalen, MD/PhD, Member of the Supervisory Board,
European Climate Foundation

Edward Canfor-Dumas, Co-founder and Director ENGI and initiator of the
All Party Group on Conflict Issues

Alejandro Litovsky,Director, Earth Security Initiative

Genon K. Jensen, Executive Director, Health and Environment Alliance
HEAL, on behalf of

Angela Bryant, Executive Director, 10:10 UK

Paul Horsman, Campaign Director, Global Campaign for Climate Action

Simon Brown, Managing Director, 2degrees network

Pooran Desai, Co-Founder, BioRegional

Professor P Nigel Leigh, Professor of Neurology, Brighton and Sussex
Medical School, Trafford Centre for Biomedical Research, University of
Sussex

Simon Ross, Chief Executive, Population Matters

Superiores Monterrey ITESM

Adria Green, on behalf of  Professor Linda Keane, AIA, NCARB,
Professor of Architecture and Environmental Design, The School of the
Art Institute of Chicago

Kenneth Nana Amoateng, Project and Programs Director Abibiman Foundation, Ghana

Sally Ranney, Executive Director, Rising Wolf, LLC

Lucy Emerson-Bell, Production Coordinator American Renewable Energy
Day (AREDAY), on behalf of Marcela Ballara, Secretariar member,
International Council of Adult Education ICAE and Gender Office GEO

Sonia Khela, Climate Change Researcher, Zoological Society of London

Suzanne Maxx, Founder/President/Chair, World Team Now

Guy Alois Magnus, Procurator, European Society For Research and
Prevention Environment And Health (SREH)

Dr Philip Michael, Honorary Secretary and Vice President [Europe],
Irish Doctors Environmental Association

Francesca Scassellati Sforzolini, Director Stakeholder Communications,
European Climate Foundation

Ieva Morica, Program Director, Soros Foundation - Latvia

Alexandra Lipman, Professional Advisor, The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy

Vaughan Southgate, President, The Linnean Society of London

Marit Halonen Christiansen, Board Member, Organisation Norwegian
Medical Association

Duncan Heath, Chairman, Independent Talent Group

Dr. Pip Hayes, GP, Population Matters

Tim Taylor, Lecturer,  European Centre for Environment and Human Health

Professor Alan Maryon-Davis, Professor of Public Health, Kings College London

Rachel Stancliffe, Director, Centre for Sustainable Healthcare

Allison Beattie, Human Development Department, DFID

Paul Pearce-Kelly, Senior Curator, Zoological Society of London

Dr Stephen Dorey, Specialist Registrar in Public Health

Dr Iain TR Kennedy, Specialty Registrar, Public Health Medicine

Ruchi Baxi, Specialty Registrar in Public Health, Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust

C Bayntun, Specialty Registrar in Public Health

Torben Sigsgaard, Professor Occupational & Environmental Medicine,
Aarhus University, Denmark

Birgitta Ashworth, Transistition Town Leamington

Dr Bryony Hughes, Brighton & Sussex Medical School

Isobel Braithwaite, Medical Student & campaigner, Cambridge Hub,
University of Cambridge

Lindsey Hayes, Learning and Development, Royal College of Nursing

Dr Paul Fitzpatrick, Consultant, healthygreenfutures

Ruth Findlay Brooks, Senior Advisor, University of Cambridge Programme
for Sustainability Leadership

Isabella Platon, Head of Communications, International Diabetes Federation

Ray Lock, Senior Officer, Royal Air Force

Dr Bernd Eggen, Principal Climate Change Scientist, Health Protection Agency

Lizzie Wood, Lizzie of Earth

Margaret Logan, Regional Microbiologist, Health Protection Agency

Gill Donaldson, Renal Business Manager, Janssen, pharmaceutical
division of Johnson & Johnson

Adrian Robertson

Dr Mayer Hillman, Senior Fellow Emeritus, Policy Studies Institute

Sonja Powell, Director

Rachel Hadden, GP Trainee, NHS

Ian Scott, Principal Facilitator - Grand Challenges, UCL

Dr Jessi Tucker, NHS trainee

Dilys Morgan, Consultant Health Protection, Health Protection Agency

Frank Arnold, Doctor

Dr Frances MacGuire, Public Health Registrar

Lindley Owen, Consultant in Public Health, NHS Bournemouth & Poole

Katherine Brooks, Marine biology researcher

Dr Stuart White, Consultant Anaesthetist, Brighton and Sussex
University Hospitals NHS Trust

Dr Mark McPhail, Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow, Imperial College London

Zudn Puthucheary, NIHR research fellow, UCL/KCL

Maggie Barker, Director, Thames Cancer Registry

Sue Atkinson, Non Executive Director, UCLH

Guppi Bola, Campaigner, Oxfam

Matt Baker

Terrence Tehranian, Partner, Pioneer Point Partners LLP

Lynn Gibbons, Sustainable Health SW Manager, Sustainability SW/ NHS SW

Zoe Brummell, Anaesthetist, NHS

Mirabelle Muuls, Research fellow, Imperial college

Aida Ponce Del\Castillo, Researcher, ETUI

Dr Sudeep Chand, Research Fellow, Chatham House

Pam Garthwaite,  Researcher, Open University

Robin Murray, Senior Visiting Fellow, London School of Economics

Nick Christoforou, Managing Director, Neo

Dr Andrew Cook, Binscombe Medical Centre

Andy Connor, Medical Registrar

Henry Nicholls, Science Journalist

Francesco Forastiere, Epidemiologist Regional Health Service, Lazio, Italy

Viky Christodoulou-Voskarides, Policy Assistant, European Commission

Neil Chadborn, Researcher in Public Health Liverpool, John Moores University

Dr Colin Sage, Senior Lecturer in Geography, University College Cork,
Republic of Ireland

Meredith Gunn, Course Manager, Monash University

Dr Martin Birley, Consultant, BirleyHIA

Roy White, Chair, Northern Ireland Cycling Initiative

Professor Andrew Jameton, Professor University Nebraska Med Ctr
College of Public Health

Karen Dobres, Parent Governor, Lewes New School

Anna Haworth, Risk Advisor, Acclimatise

Dr Karen Jones, GP, Binscombe Medical Centre

Ben Leeman, Publisher, New Community Quarterly

Dr Benjamin Ticehurst, Senior Lecturer, School of Medicine, University
of Notre Dame Australia

Dr Liz Hanna, Fellow, Australian National University

Natalie Davis, Public health student, Griffith University

Dr Robyn Gregory, CEO, Women's Health West

Dr Belinda Lewis, Senior Lecturer Health Promotion, Monash University
(Australia)

Olivia Ellis, Research Assistant, Yale University

Jane Yorkston, Senior Health Promotion Officer

G.N.Chandrasiri, Assistant Director, Central Environmental Authority Sri Lanka

Dr Nicholas Leigh-Hunt, Public Health Registrar, NHS Leeds

Snezana Matic-Besarabic, Senior Specialist Environmental Health,
Institute of public health Belgrade

Ralph Chapman, Dr/Associate Professor Environmental Studies, Victoria
University of Wellington

Anne Mason, Owner/Manager, Private tuition business

Daniel Howard, Physician

Arthur Mitzman, Concerned Citizens against Climate Change

Peter Sainsbury, Public health specialist, Sydney, Australia

Monika Bhatia, ParraCAN & Independent Researcher, Women's Information
Network, NSW

Callan Emery, Managing Editor, Middle East Health

John Gibbons, Publisher, MedMedia Group (Ireland)

James Hewitt, Consultant

Jill Sciberras, Nurse Epidemiologist

Professor Jim Kitchen, Faculty of Art, Design & the Built Environment,
University of Ulster

Christelle Page, Final Year Student - BSc Adult Nursing Degree,
Nursing Sustainability and Climate Change

Dr Nick Wilson, Associate Professor, University of Otago, New Zealand

Josh Karliner, International Coordinator, Health Care Without Harm

Stephen Kunz, Senior Ecologist, Schmid & Company, Inc., Consulting
Ecologists, USA

Dr Gideon Polya, biochemistry lecturer, La Trobe University

Vicki Philipp, Artist

Lucy Wickham, Health Promotion Worker, Greater Dandenong Community
Health Service

Professor John Wiseman, Professorial Fellow, Melbourne Sustainable
Society Institute, University of Melbourne

Tyler Law, Medical Student, Queen's University, Canada

Garry Egger, Professor, Southern Cross University

Dr N. P. Sumanaweera, Physician, Individual consultant

Dr Muhammad Moazzam Khan, Family Physician, Aga Khan University Hospital

Lucinda Chipchase, Lecturer, The University of Queensland

Dr Silas Taylor

Andrew Skolnick, Medical Journalist, Freelance

V Gowri, Assistant Professor, Sultan Qaboos University

Safa el Qsoos, Quality director &patient safety regional adviser,
Ministry of health, Jordan

Matilda Annerstedt, MD/PhD, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Maria Harpsoe, MD, Ph D student

Valerie Hawes

Joan Dugdale, Medical herbalist, Private practice

June Abrahamsson, Retired Physician

William Tobin, PhD (retired)

Kate McCambridge, Midwife, BSUH

Paul Cole, Paramedic

Jenny Weeks, Public Health Analyst

Ieva Cechaviciutre, Psychologist

Dr Ellen Grant, retired physican

Benny Goodman, Lecturer, Plymouth University

Dr Milton Easton, ICU at Lismore Base Hospital (NSW, Australia)

Maurice Savage, Professor of Paediatrics, Queen's University Belfast

Professor Dr Chih-Chien Wang, National Defense Medical Center,
Tri-Service General Hospital Department of Pediatrics, Taipei, Taiwan
(R.O.C.)

Dr Elena Aldasoro, Health Researcher, Department of Health, Basque Government

Dr Maxwell Summerhayes, Associate Head of Medical Affairs

Professor Paul Hunter, Professor of Health Protection, University of East Anglia

Dr Andrew Connor, Department of Renal Medicine, Derriford Hospital

Professor Stephen Bown, Professor of Laser Medicine & Surgery
Director, National Medical Laser Centre, UCL

Luann Shield

Joanna Phillips, Head of Climate Change Adaptation, WWF, UK

Ary de Oliveira, Costraction, Chevron

Dr Rosemary Croft, GP

Kurt Frieder, Executive Director, Huesped Foundation, Argentina

David A. Levy, M.D., Consultant

Amresh Hanchate, Assistant Professor, Boston University

Dr Kasirim NWUKE, Chief, Quality assurance, United Nations Economic
Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Dr David Edwards, Public Health Registrar, NHS

Cornelia Baines MD, Professor Emerita, Dalla Lana School of Public
Health, Toronto, Canada

Jasmeen Batra, Recent Graduate, Boston University

Jennifer Robinson, MD, MPH, Professor, University of Iowa

Paul Dixey, Managing Partner, Bluelight Partners

Dr Joseph S. Ross, Assistant Professor, Yale University School of Medicine

Margot Prior, Professor of Psychology, University of Melbourne

Mauricio Carmona, Neonatologist, private practice, O&P Medica, SC,
Cuernavca, Mexico

Meg Christie, Health Promoter, Community and Public Health,
Canterbury, New Zealand

Magdalena Amparo Bastida Varela, Médico, SSDF

Dr Martin Brigden, Consultant Physician, Queensland Health

Rachel Cottam, GP, NHS

Jun, medical student

Cherie McCown, Board Member, Community Directed Development Foundation, Africa

Dr Brendan O'Brien, Specialty Registrar in Public Health Medicine,
Public Health Agency (Northern Ireland)

Simone Cort, Administrator, British Society of Gastroenterology

Craig Brown, General Practitioner

Dr Emmett Sharpe, Consultant Anaesthetist, Belfast Trust Hospitals,
Northern Ireland

Pierluigi Cocco, M.D., Professor of Occupational Health, University of
Cagliari, Italy

Mathew Jose, Physician

Kuba Gogolewski, Energy Campaigner, CEE Bankwatch Network

Dr Carole P. O'Beirne, Pediatrician, Toronto East General Hospital,
Sick Kids Hospital and University of Toronto

Scott A Mandia, Professor-Physical Sciences, Suffolk County Community College

Anja Leetz, Executive Director, Health Care Without Harm Europe

Dr Brian Silk, Retired Consultant Paediatricin, NHS

Werner Leber, GP, QMUL

Declan Heavey, Director, Network for Church Monitoring

Dr S. K. Roy Chaudhary, Professor & Head of Forensic Medicine,
Rohilkhand Medical College, BAREILLY, UP, India

Rainer Sauerborn, Professor, Heidelberg University, Germany

Dr Richard W Lee, Respiratory SpR, Darent Valley Hospital

Dr Kate Ardern, Director of Public Health

Bryan Lask, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of London

Mahesh M. Deore, registrar

W. Vennells, GP, NHS

Dr Knut Schröder, General Practitioner and Honorary Senior Clinical
Lecturer, Concord Medical Centre and University of Bristol

Dr William Janson, GP, Hawthorn Medical Centre, Swindon

Dr Peter Wilkinson, Consultant Cardiologist, Ashford & St Peter's NHS
Foundation Trust

Ruth Hutchinson, retired Anaesthetist

Jodi Sherman, MD, Yale University, School of Medicine

Liangyi Chang, Co-Director, Taiwan Youth Climate Coalition

Dr Neil D Arnott, General Practitoner, Amherst Medical Practice

Patrícia Ribeiro, Environmental Engineer and PhD Student on Climate Change

Catherine Stace, UK Youth Climate Coalition

Stephen Connor, Founder, Climate in Public Health Action

Jill Beale, student, Melbourne University

Harry Troedel, Sustainability Manager, University of Melbourne

Martin Turner, Hon Principal Research Fellow, University of Sydney

Richard O. Day, Professor of Clinical Pharmacology, St Vincent's
Hospital, Sydney & UNSW
------------------------------------------
Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett