A cycle of dependence ... or freedom?

If I'd asked when we had our first oil crisis, what would you have answered? I didn't have a clue. In fact the continued sloppy safety and extraction standards and massive spills would make you think there wasn't a looming shortage. (Some information about Peak Oil here and Fracking and Fossil Fuels here.)

It turns out the first oil crisis was in the 1970's, less than a hundred years after oil had begun to be widely used as a source of energy for cars. It's interesting to learn that the Netherlands used this shortage and an accompanying economic crisis as an opportunity to challenge the growing assumption that the car was the ideal mode of transport.

In the years since the second world war, cycling had become marginalised and the car had become King, with the demands for ever increasing roads, parking lots and infrastructure. Traffic deaths, including those of cyclists had increased massively and cities were becoming choked with traffic.

Does the above sound familiar?

And yet, the Government of the Netherlands and local communities were proactive and turned a negative into a positive.

They were keenly aware of the costs associated with increasing motor traffic: that it kills people, the cities and the environment and that continued dependence was unhealthy. They encouraged people to enjoy "car free Sundays", and over time they adapted their transport planning to integrate cycle paths quite naturally. Cycling and cyclists were no longer marginalised with the benefit of improved health, lower transport costs and safer cycling.

The world is currently staggering from crisis to crisis, unhealthily dependent on oil and seemingly willing to commit any crime to get the next oil "fix".

It's looking more and more like an addict who is completely unable to think clearly, rationally, wisely or thoughtfully - only able to focus on the immediate and next fix. The future and others who may yet come after us appear to be an irrelevant inconvenience.

Too often bullying countries and corporate leaders act like a drug dealer who will commit any amount of crimes to get what he wants, and justify it as well with arrogant, dismissive, wide eyed "honesty". Those pushing the drug of fossil fuel energy addiction are complicit in encouraging total dependence.

Are we able to pause, assess and choose to incorporate cycling in to the transport mix as wisely as the Netherlands did over 40 years ago. Or like the addict, will we pretend we "can't" and continue to make excuses?
.

Climate Matters. H is for Health

This is for H in the A-Z Blogging Challenge 2012. Link in the sidebar.

We instinctively know we function better when we’re healthy, when we have hope for the future. When we feel a sense of control over our lives we show courage in the face of adversity – we feel empowered. The converse is also true, when we feel disempowered, when life feels hopeless, depression increases throughout communities.

Most people think of climate change as a purely environmental issue. But it affects more than the environment. In itself, even without being personally impacted by an extreme climate change event, knowledge about the devastating effects of extreme weather and environmental degradation can lead to depression.

Climate change also affects the fundamental requirements for health – clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food and secure shelter.

Heat
As people in bushfire prone areas are aware, extreme heat can lead to devastating bushfires, resulting in deaths, higher pollution levels and asthma attacks as well as long term impacts as a result of trauma for those impacted directly and indirectly. Heatwaves affect health in a variety of ways - by triggering heart attacks, strokes, accidents and heat exhaustion – all potentially requiring hospitalisation. Vulnerable people such as the very young and elderly may die. High temperatures can also lead to increased pollutants in the air that afffect those with cardiovascular and respiratory diseases including asthma.

Increasing drought leads to food and water shortages. Rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns are likely to lead to further malnutrition in many countries.

Floods
Floods can cause drownings and physical injuries, damage homes, businesses and infrastructure and disrupt all services including the supply of medical and health services. The economy is affected by lost work and school days, population displacement and disruption of transportation leading to food and fresh water shortages.

Floods contaminate freshwater supplies. Gastroenteritis and waterborne diseases such as cholera and typhoid outbreaks could also become more common because warmer temperatures would make it easier for bacteria to multiply in food and contaminated water after infrastructure has broken down due to flooding.

Residents in Townsville QLD were warned to preserve drinking water
after the devastation of Cyclone Yasi.

Diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and Ross River virus may become more prevalent as mosquitoes extend their range and flourish in a generally warmer climate and breed in stagnant water after floods. Tick borne diseases such as lyme disease are also expected to increase.

Rising sea levels and increasingly extreme weather events will destroy homes, farms, businesses, medical facilities and other essential services. More than half of the world's population lives within 60 km of the sea. People will be forced to move, which in turn heightens the risk of a range of health effects, from emotional distress to coming into contact with new diseases.

Food prices skyrocket and seaside communities are devastated
after extreme weather events worldwide.

When forests are decimated for timber, agriculture or mining, the native animals are crowded together in fragmented, smaller areas. One ill animal can infect others more easily and because they crowded together, and are closer to settlements, the disease carries far more easily and can transfer to humans easier than would be possible if their habitat was intact.

The health of the world’s people depends on truly sustainable development. This will ideally incorporate all areas of human activity and include our interactions with land, ocean and atmospheric environments to ensure that they, and we, are reslilient in the face of increasing pressure to use them with little regard for the outcomes.

Social, economic, public health and environmental needs must all be addressed in order to fully achieve sustainable progress - at local, national, regional and international levels. Policy makers, scientists, stakeholders, (including big business) and the wider public must learn to work together if we are to transition successfully through this period of climate change.

Last year I wrote about Harassment and Health for H in my theme on workplace bullying. Here.
.