JOHANNESBURG, 27 November 2009 (IRIN): Eat less meat, have smaller herds of animals, switch to more efficient stoves (komfurer) that pollute less, and develop more sustainable public transport systems are some of the lifestyle changes and technical fixes that could save millions of lives and reduce global warming.
This is the message in a series of studies published by a group of scientists in the respected British medical journal, The Lancet, to make a case for health at the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen (COP15), starting on 12 December 2009.
Each study focuses on one sector where greenhouse gas emissions need to be reduced, including household energy use, urban land transport, electricity generation, and food and agriculture. The effect on health of short-lived greenhouse pollutants, produced by several sectors, is also reviewed.
Reducing preventable deaths is the aim: two million people die from indoor air pollution every year; 1,2 million from outdoor air pollution; 1,3 million from road traffic injuries.
Each study examines the health implications of actions to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases in high- and low-income countries. Supplying cleaner household energy to the poor and raising the fitness levels of the 3,2 million who die every year from physical inactivity would be simple solutions, Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, a scientist with the World Health Organization and a contributor to the studies, told IRIN.
– We (health professionals) cannot become spectators, said Mike Gill, of the University of Surrey, a co-author of a study that urged doctors to discuss climate change with patients.
“We have the evidence, a good story to tell that dramatically shifts the lens through which climate change is perceived, and we have public trust,” He wrote with co-author Robin Stott.
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