MinisymposiumClimate change and rising energy costs: A threat but also an opportunity for a healthier future?
Section snippets
Economic growth as a historical driver of health improvement
In the early stages of industrialization, economic growth and health have grown in parallel. Greater wealth leads to better health, but improved health also contributes to economic growth.1 Various mechanisms have been proposed for this association, including better nutrition as a result of the agricultural revolution,2 improved sanitation and public infrastructure,3 and the creation of welfare systems and local government.4 This historical association is strengthened by evidence from occasions
What is driving current concerns about economic growth?
There is concern about economic growth for two reasons. First, economic growth associated with rising consumerism, individualism and economism damages our sense of well-being and the cohesion of our society.7, 8 Second, economic growth is not sustainable in a finite planet that is showing the detrimental impact of exponential growth in the consumption of energy and resources.9 The question is, are these concerns justified, and what is the most appropriate response?
Ideally, a public health
Well-being
Since the mid-1970s, increased economic growth in the USA, Europe and Australasia has not been accompanied by commensurate improvement in well-being.12, 13 Despite the difficulties in defining, measuring and providing its historical trends, it has become clear that well-being has not improved substantially in the developed world for at least 25 years, and may even be declining.
There are various hypotheses linking this stasis or decline in well-being to the effects of economic growth and the
Inequalities
Inequalities in both the determinants and outcomes of health have always been present in society, but have grown during recent decades in developed countries, and now appear to be accelerating (Fig. 2).20
Whilst there remains debate about the mechanisms through which inequalities limit health,21 three facets of this argument are difficult to refute. First, income inequality drives health inequality.22 Second, income and health inequalities have increased during the long recent growth trends of
Conclusion
Clearly, much of life will go on as before. People will get sick and some will require hospital care. Screening and other programmes will continue. However, all of these will be subject to diminishing returns when considered against the challenges of sustainability. Other activities such as the expansion of airports simply need to be put into reverse.32 This is more than a new approach to health. It is a new approach to life, but those reading this paper have a distinctive contribution to make.
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Making the case for a 'fifth wave' in public Health
2011, Public HealthCitation Excerpt :For energy (oil, gas, uranium etc), the problem comes when production peaks whilst the remaining resource is more difficult and thus more expensive to extract. This is becoming increasingly recognised as a threat and opportunity for public health.25 The link between the exponential growth of money and health is less well recognised.
What can health professionals contribute to the challenge of sustainability?
2009, Public HealthCitation Excerpt :The health of populations hangs on a successful transition to sustainability.3–5 Several interacting unsustainable trends currently exist: population growth; the use of fossil fuels; the accumulation of greenhouse gases; and the creation of money.6–8 This paper argues that these trends are unsustainable and major change is inevitable, but that important positive health dividends could be reaped if health professionals take action now.9
Does the public health mindset want to change?
2009, Public HealthMinisymposium-Sustainability: Public health's role in the 21st century
2008, Public HealthPeak oil: threat, opportunity or phantom?
2008, Public HealthThe days of cheap oil have gone, but the peak oil theory is far too bleak
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