Declare a Climate Emergency
The first step in treating any condition is acknowledging that there is a problem.
Insight is the key to a mature response. The movement to declare a climate emergency asks governments, NGOs and other institutions to own up to the climate crisis, to truly recognise the vast scope of the problem and from there proceed with climate change at the centre of all further actions, be they political or secular.
Declaring a climate emergency means acting on that emergency, putting climate action at the centre of everything we do.
In the political world 1,318 jurisdictions in 25 countries have declared a climate emergency. The European Union declared in November 2019, joining the UK, Ireland, Portugal, Canada, France and Argentina. Populations covered by jurisdictions that have declared a climate emergency amount to 810 million citizens.
In Australia over 80 jurisdictions have declared, including the ACT and the upper house of the South Australian state parliament. Sadly, our Federal Parliament has thus far failed to declare, despite overwhelming community support. In October 2019 a parliamentary petition asking for a declaration was ignored despite it being signed by 370,004 Australians. This was the most signatures on a petition ever tabled, tripling the previous record. The Greens Adam Bandt put forward a motion to declare which was supported by Labor and the cross-bench but was defeated by the LNP government.
MEDICAL CLIMATE EMERGENCY DECLARATIONS:
The World Health Organization has named climate change as the greatest global health threat and called for strong and effective action to limit climate change, in order to avoid unacceptable risks to global health.
The World Medical Association declared a climate emergency in October 2019, which reads as follows:-
The WMA and its constituent members and the international health community:
declare a climate emergency and call the international health community to join their mobilisation;
commit to advocate to protect the health of citizens across the globe in relation to climate change;
urge national governments to rapidly work to deliver carbon neutrality by 2030, so as to minimise the life-threatening impacts of climate change on health;
must acknowledge the environmental footprint of the global healthcare sector, and act to reduce waste and prevent pollution to ensure healthcare sustainability.
In Australia many health professional bodies have made Climate Emergency Declarations including the Australian Medical Association (AMA), the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), the Royal Australian College of Physicians (RACP), the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine (ACEM) and the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM).
REFERENCES
https://climateemergencydeclaration.org
https://www.who.int/globalchange/global-campaign/cop21/en/
https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-resolution-on-climate-emergency/