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AFUW-ACT
Inc. Meeting Report
Topic: CLIMATE CHANGE - DISRUPTION & HEALTH .
Speaker: Dr. Brian Furnass
Bryan Furnass--Climate Disruption & Health -- How shall we adapt?
Health is affected by the environment - health not only of humans but
plants, animals and the whole environment is affected by climate disruption.
Dr Bryan Furnass trained as a Doctor at Oxford University and Medical
Schools in London, was foundation Director of Medical sevices at ANU
Health Services. Since retirement he has worked on the interdependence
of the health of people and the health of the natural environment.
Bryan began by acknowledging that we were on Ngunnawal land. Health
equals whole. If environmental health packs up so do we. Our planetary
history began 3.5 billion years ago with the appearance of chlorophyll
and photosynthesis, which trapped and sequestered the sun’s energy
in algae,
soils, vegetation, tropical rain forests and eventually in fossil fuels;
the dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago, man emerged 5 million
years ago. This century the temperature has risen by .7 degrees C. The
Universe as a whole is running down. We are using 50 times the amount
of energy earlier peoples used. If the entire world used as much energy
as we do in industrial countries there would be a need for 3 more planets.
HEALTH HAZARDS - include habitat loss from flood, fire and storms; heat
waves - are increasing in frequency and intensity; there are threats
to water and food supplies; infectious diseases such as malaria and
dengue fever; mental stress and social insecurity; and eventually warfare
for resources. The diagnosis of our problems may be summarised as the
four Ps - Population, Poverty, Pollution and Preparation for war.
TREATMENT -The solution may depend on the wise application of the Four
Es Enlightenment, Ecology, Education, and Ethics
So the ABC of enlightenment is awe, beauty, and caritas - care and active
responsibility for people and nature. Homo sapiens or homo hubris? We
MUST save our planet!
SEE CHANGE GROUPS AROUND CANBERRA are NEIGHBOURHOOD GROUPS Working for
the planet.
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