A second look at Climate Change

Jonny Elliott, from COP18

We've all been there...

if you're anything like me, you probably thought you had climate change sussed when you learnt the difference between your NO2 and your CO2, that simple greenhouse effect diagram they teach you about in GCSE Chemistry, or felt like a genius amongst mere mortals when the Kyoto Protocol was mentioned in conversation.   

But then you're asked for your views on the Bali Roadmap, or a sample NAPA for a non-annex country, and suddenly you've gone blank and all you can muster is a smile...  Welcome to Doha, and to the 18th UN Conference on Climate Change. 

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Over the next two weeks, I hope to be able to share with you the ins and outs of what can certainly be a tricky process to get your head around: but don’t let that put you off.   I am by no means an expert on the whole UNFCCC process - but as Christiana Figueres, the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC reiterated earlier at an event this week, ‘none of us are, but we all have our niche.’   

As a health professional I strongly agree with the UCL-Lancet commission's statement that ‘Climate change could be the biggest global health threat of the 21st century’ .  Our health is essentially dependent on stable, functioning ecosystems and a healthy biosphere.  This bedrock for global health is under enormous threat from climate change and ecological damage that we are causing.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve known about this problem for quite a few years since early secondary school, but have generally felt powerless to act - and at times questioned whether my efforts would really have an effect.  However, as I have connected more deeply with other social justice issues, development and public health I've found that the message of climate change and the irrefutable science behind it keeps reappearing.  This isn’t just confined to articles we read on PubMed or the Lancet, but is important in our daily lives.  It's there in extreme weather events, such as a record-breaking heat wave that I experienced in Washington D.C.; quite possible the flooding that inundated the streets of my hometown Belfast this summer and saw an unlikely hero on a surfboard rescue victims from their homes; the flooding happening across the UK.  And it's there in the general trends too.

As students, healthcare professionals and people interested in global health, I believe that engaging with this issue really is a case of now or never.  We are in a situation in the UK where most are aware of climate change, but all too often turn a blind eye.  This is an unavoidable moral responsibility and an issue that will affect ourselves and our children: it's not something in the distant future, it's already happening.  And we have to act fast.

I urge you over the coming days and weeks to take a second take at what climate change means for you, your family and every single person on this planet.  Join me on the journey in Doha where I’ll be creating a bit of a stir on the ground; meeting with negotiators, delivering workshops, training young people from all over the world and leading publicity events such as flashmobs.  Forging partnerships and trying to be as accessible as I can will be my allies. 

Drop me a line, follow me on facebook, or send me a tweet and let’s create a huge wave of change at the UN.  

It’s our responsibility, so let’s act now!


Below: Jonny on the ground in Doha partnering with IFMSA (left) to plan a stunt and with Ex-President of Ireland, Mary Robinson (right) 

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