What should we do about climate change?: Health professionals need to act now, collectively and individually

doi:10.1136/bmj.39028.427164.BE

BMJ 2006;333:983-984 (11 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.39028.427164.BE

Editorials

What should we do about climate change?

Health professionals need to act now, collectively and individually

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Action on climate change has been likened toteenage sex. Everyone claims to be in on the action, but onlya few are, and those not very effectively. Given the scientificconsensus that global warming—the underlying cause ofclimate change—is mainly caused by human beings¹ ² and its effects are likely to be seriously damagingto global health,³ ⁴ citizens and governmentsmust take much more effective action. This sense of urgencyhas been confirmed by the Stern report, commissioned by theUK chancellor, Gordon Brown, and published last week.⁵ It concludesthat the cost of doing something to combat climate change islikely to be 1% of global gross domestic product, but the costof doing nothing will be up to 20% of global gross domesticproduct. It also concludes that the cost to the environmentof each ton of carbon dioxide emitted is £50 ( ${euro}$ 75; $95),a figure that . . . [Full text of this article]

Robin Stott, chair BMJ carbon council¹, Fiona Godlee, editor²

¹ Medact, London N19 4DJ, ² BMJ, London WC1H 9JR

fgodlee@bmj.com

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