A Medical Emergency Response for Today's Global Climate Change EmergencyNEW in 2011-2012: Climate Emergency Declaration Initiative goes to Durban, South Africa 2011 UN Climate Conference and Brazil's Rio +20 2012 UN Earth Summit We must prepare for the global climate change emergency ... the worst ever environmental and pubic health catastrophe "WE HAVE REACHED A POINT OF PLANETARY EMERGENCY...." "This is an emergency and ... we need emergency action." "The question now is whether we can Failure to agree on a new UN climate deal ... will bring "a global health catastrophe." _________________________________________ LEVEL OF THE PLANETARY EMERGENCY The current decade is the hottest on record. The first half of 2010 was the hottest on record. June 2010 was the hottest June on record. 2010 was one of the three hottest years on record.
All carbon feedbacks are now kicking in. Carbon feedbacks are, by definition, the most dangerous effect of global warming because they boost global warming further.
Published research puts today's temperature increase commitment as high as 2.4ºC.
Analyses by the Climate Interactive Scoreboard and Climate Action Tracker show that current national "pledges" to cut emissions commit the world to a 4ºC temperature increase by 2100, which is a commitment of 7ºC over the next few hundred years. _________________________________________ There is still no formal acknowledgement of the climate change emergency or that the world is beyond dangerous interference with the climate system (1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) by any nation or any involved international organization. The latest UN conferences have led only to the Copenhagen Accord, which includes various national emissions reduction "pledges" but no binding commitments, and no agreement on any limits other than the "disastrous" (James Hansen, 2008) 1996 EU policy target of 2°C for global temperature increase. "The potential for runaway greenhouse warming is real and has never been more clear." Global climate change and other ongoing persistent global environmental problems "threaten humanity's very survival.... The need couldn’t be more urgent ... to act now to safeguard our own survival and that of future generations." "Climate change is the biggest global health threat of the 21st century. Effects of climate change on health will affect most populations in the next decades and put the lives and wellbeing of billions of people at increased risk." "Unless decisive action is taken now, the world will face global public health and environmental catastrophe. We believe that the health and healthcare community can, and must, spearhead a major movement for change." "If there's no action before 2012, that's too late. What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future. This is the defining moment."
We are on track for over six degrees of global warming, which constitutes a climate change emergency and a threat to the very survival of humanity.
Figure 1: Today's global greenhouse gas emissions are tracking towards
TIME IS RUNNING OUT FOR SAFEGUARDING HUMANITY Doctors and concerned professionals in other leading institutions (for example, human rights and education) have a vital role to play in safeguarding future generations from planetary catastrophe — but only by acting today. Why healthcare professionals? The medical community is in a special position to respond to this crisis. There is no profession better qualified to understand the huge risks humanity is running, to define "dangerous" climate change, and to prescribe the best remedial measures for diminishing the disaster and preventing total climate catastrophe. Why human rights professionals? Global climate change is the greatest human rights issue of our time, and potentially all time. Why educators? The science of global warming is still poorly understood and the reality of climate change is still poorly accepted (in no small part due the global warming denial industry), making it an urgent educational priority. The declaration of this planetary climate change emergency and summons to a global emergency response would naturally come first from these professions. Only an international declaration of a state of global climate change emergency can rapidly rectify this situation, by leading to a concerted international emergency response to rescue all future generations. Nations are still targeting the 1996 EU policy compromise of 2ºC global warming, which according to the latest science is disastrous and invites catastrophe. (More...) The world needs policies and planning based on the avoidance of any risk of irreversible, catastrophic climate change tipping points. This site therefore addresses the worst risks as well as the worst predicted impacts. (More...) Why the urgency? In short, all (inevitable) carbon feedbacks to global warming and carbon emissions are now operant. This is a climate change emergency. With the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere still accelerating, with atmospheric methane "spiking" due to carbon feedback, with GHG emissions tracking the IPCC's worst case scenario, with carbon feedbacks adding to GHG emissions in the Arctic, with methane emitting from the ocean floor into the atmosphere off the coast of Siberia, with reduction in the efficiency of the ocean carbon sink and a huge decline in the oceans' phytoplankton, the risk of passing irreversible, catastrophic tipping points now clearly exists. (More...) Nations, scientific organizations and NGOs have still made no statement that the world is beyond dangerous interference with the climate system (UN FCCC) and have still made no declaration of a global climate crisis or planetary state of emergency. Medical debate about global warming has so far emphasised planning and response. It is therefore timely that we draw a parallel to medical involvement in the nuclear weapons disarmament movement in the 1980s.... — Dr. Richard F. Kefford, Professor of Medicine CLIMATE CHANGE EMERGENCY MEDICAL RESPONSE assists in building a global voice of concerned professionals, particularly healthcare professionals, to ensure a healthy and habitable planet for future generations — of all species. The emergency medical responses suggested in this website are based on
What's the first step? Click on the Climate Change Emergency button below for immediate action steps, or on a link below or to the left to learn about the risks and to see how doctors and other professionals can take action on global climate change.
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