Breakfast conversations: Climate change and health
Did you know that in 2022 the United Nations General Assembly declared that everyone, everywhere, has the right to a healthy environment?
“Nobody can take nature, clean air and water, or a stable climate away from us – at least, not without a fight” – Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
On 7 May, the Sustainable Business Council and Tonkin + Taylor hosted a breakfast to introduce the newly launched climate change scenarios for the health sector in New Zealand. Here are five takeaways:
1. Peep through the looking glass, it’s good for you!
Climate scenarios let us explore plausible yet challenging directions the future might take us based on different levels of global warming. The event introduced some of the climate scenarios designed by The Network for Greening the Financial System (NFGS) which they had used to stress test the health care sector. The three scenarios show how our future could look like if we achieve a net zero transition, if we fall short of our targets, and if we fail to take action at all.
Newsflash: 3°C+ of global warming (Hot House, if we don’t take any actions) looks rough. However, it’s exciting that the health care sector are using the eye-opening (and eye-watering) outcomes of this scenario assessment to plan to decarbonise. Southern Cross highlighted three key emission reduction opportunities:
- Electrifying and greening the electricity grid
- Minimising purchased goods emissions
- Tackling waste
It can be hard to look at the things that make you feel anxious or powerless, but looking is actually empowering you to make a difference. So it’s good for you!
2. Replace climate anxiety with a passion for the future!
We were all shifting in our seats contemplating the grizzly reality of the hypothetical Hot House world. How can we keep our heads screwed on when choosing to care about a sustainable planet can feel so overwhelming?
Our breakfast panel recommended immersing yourself in nature if it gets to be a little much – dive into your local bush or run along your favourite beach. We love this, but we say something different. Bush and beach are fantastic if you have access to it, but for a lot of people this is not a reflection of their reality.
What we can all do, no matter where we are in the world, is transform our anxiety into determination and passion. Big changes can come from the smallest idea, or a simple conversation over breakfast. We’re not in that Hot House yet, there’s so much room for innovation and transformation! So don’t let climate anxiety get one over on you – you will probably trip over your ground-breaking innovation waiting in line for your morning coffee.
3. Be bold (but not stupid), it’s the best way to innovate!
We must thank Greg Nelson at Southern Cross for pointing this out. Looking at the future and approaching new ideas can be scary and we’ve bulldozed into both of these. The reality is that innovation (which we need) rarely follows rules already written and they often require a leap of faith. And why not take that leap? Bravery and boldness will bring us closer a healthy, happy world, and this is something we commit to at thinkstep-anz. Which is pretty big talk over croissants.
4. It needed saying so we’re saying it now – nobody should get left behind
This great big elephant wasn’t really mentioned over breakfast, so we felt it important to call out now. Nobody should get left behind in an equitable transition to a healthier future. There are already startling and shocking disparities in the access people have to health care and a healthy environment globally and it’s crucial we close this gap. There are a number of opportunities to try and close the inequality gap, but we need to talk about it to act on it. People should be at the heart of our conversations, and at the heart of our transition to a healthier planet. Nobody should get left behind.
5. Climate is a strong start but nature is the big banana
We think it’s safe to say we all understand that climate change has a real potential to inflict more discomfort across both the global north and the global south. Unfortunately, these breakfast conversations cannot stop with climate because nature is the big banana. One major global nature-related risk is that zoonotic (animal to human) diseases develop. Think bird flu, or what COVID-19 might have been (are we in agreement that was kindly gifted from bats or is that still up in the air?).
The reason zoonotic diseases are becoming a bigger risk is largely because of we’re cutting down forests, which aside from chewing up useful carbon sinks to mitigate climate change, also brings animal habitats far closer to humans than they should be. A recent report from the Green Finance Initiative looking at nature risks in the UK indicated zoonotic diseases to be a major risk, and one that could inflict a 12% drop in national GDP – worse than the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, and worse than COVID-19 itself.
So we really ought to be having a conversation about nature, and start building that into our discussions.
We wrote a blog about this the other day, which you can find here.
That’s it from us so thanks Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand, Tonkin + Taylor, Southern Cross Healthcare and the Sustainable Business Council NZ for an excellent and educational breakfast – our favourite kind!