Nature and Human Health
Human health and well being has long being linked to the state of the natural world. We need water and food obtained from the land. We need fresh clean air to breath. Then there is our mental health. Visiting outdoor areas provide places to exercise and provide relaxation. Visiting natural areas can also increase happiness as we are surrounded by amazing scenery.
Doctors for the Environment Australia recognise this link between environment and human health. Doctors for the Environment Australia is a national voluntary organisation of medical doctors and students. They use their scientific and medical skills to educate, inform and influence governments, industry, the public and our colleagues of the health importance of our natural environment.
Nobel Laureate Professor Peter Doherty and former Australian of the Year Professor Fiona Stanley are among more than 180 health professionals and leading health groups who have signed an open letter, warning the federal government must strengthen Australia’s weak environment laws to protect health. The letter warns that a failure to protect our environment is in effect destroying our means of survival, exposing humanity to potentially even more deadly pandemics than COVID-19, as well as catastrophic climate change, which caused the summer bushfires of 2019/2020.
The letter goes on to state the COVID-19 pandemic is thought to have originated in pathogens from other species, as with other infectious diseases before it such as Ebola, SARS and Hendra virus. The cause of this disease is a disregard for animal welfare and destruction of habitats, with wildlife treated as a commodity and human communities encroaching on previously undeveloped areas. protect It is important to protect the natural environment in order to prevent further and potentially even more deadly pandemics.
According to the Australian Department of Health, at the time of writing there has been 7,150 cases of COVID-19 and 103 deaths. The most recent death been that of a 30 year old Queensland man, the youngest to die of the disease. That is quite a significant number.
The letter also links the 2019/2020 bushfires to climate change. The fires caused the death of millions of animals, ecological devastation, as well as the direct loss of human life, physical injuries and the displacement of many thousands of people. The prolonged smoke pollution over eastern Australia is estimated to have resulted in over 1300 presentations to emergency departments with asthma, more than 3000 people admitted to hostpital for heart and lung problems and 417 excess deaths . The mental health impacts are likely to be evident for decades.
Both the bushfires and COVID-19 are perhaps a sign that we have reached a tipping point. As long as we keep putting profits before the state of the environment, the world will never be the same again. We need politicians with vision. Who are going to make policy that will benefit future generations by preserving the natural wealth of the world.