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LETTERS: William T Stevenson Doctors leading climate change is self delusion BMJ 2006; 333: 1124-b [Full text]

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Great - we have a Carbon Council....what is it doing?

Sarah J Capewell, Aijaz Mohammed   (18 December 2006)

Great - we have a Carbon Council....what is it doing? 18 December 2006
Sarah J Capewell, Foundation Year 1 Doctor Western Infirmary General, Glasgow, G11 6NT, Aijaz Mohammed Send response to journal: Re: Great - we have a Carbon Council....what is it doing?	Dear Editor, The BMJ's Carbon Council is much needed. The clamour of voices adding to the evidence of climate change catastrophes becomes louder daily; we see countries in the developing world suffering further flooding, desertification and the widespread ill health and starvation that results.1 Even Western countries are already experiencing the effects of warmer wetter weather.2 Such overwhelming evidence should provide us all with the impetus to act NOW. We need to preserve what is left of our ecosystem and thereby the health of people world-wide.... and that of our children and grandchildren. We can no longer ignore the impact of the ever-accelerating energy wastage we create. We must apply the brakes, both collectively AND individually. 3 As doctors with the health of others our primary concern we are surely duty- bound to do so, particularly given that we work within institutions such as the NHS, the world's third largest employer and producer of phenomenal amounts of unnecessary wastage.4 Therefore far from being 'egotistical and unwarranted',5 the suggestion that doctors should lead the way in tackling climate change 6 is a recognition of this and should be supported. Good work in highlighting the dangers of climate change has already been presented in the BMJ by R Stott, F Godlee, A Coote and others, and the Carbon Council established with reasoned, realistic aims.6,7,8 Yet six months after its formation, there is no whisper of change within our institutions, nor evidence that workable policies to reduce carbon emissions are being developed. Meanwhile, Marches Energy and the Carbon Trust are already helping to reduce the financial and energy expenditure of large institutions such as NHS hospitals. 9,10 So come on Carbon Council, show us what you've got! Sarah J Capewell Aijaz Mohammed foundation year 1, Western Infirmary General, Glasgow G11 6NT sjcapewell@yahoo.co.uk Competing interests: none declared References 1.http://www.who.int/globalchange/climate/en/ 2.http://www.bbc.co.uk/climate/impact/human_health.shtml 3. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Climate Change 2001: Third Assessment Report (Volume Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. 4. Coote A. What the health services could do about climate change. BMJ 2006;332:1343-4. 5. Stevenson W T. Doctors leading climate change is self delusion. BMJ 2006; 333:1124 6. Stott R, Godlee F. What should we do about climate change? BMJ 2006; 333:983-4 7. Stott R. Healthy response to climate change. BMJ 2006;332: 1385-90 8. Godlee R. Climate change: not a threat but a promise. BMJ 1996; 313: 184 9. Marches Energy http://www.mea.org.uk 10. Reducing energy waste in the NHS - a good house keeping guide for managers. Carbon Trust 24 Aug 2006 GPG 261 Competing interests: None declared