Yesterday, the World Health Organization (WHO) and almost 200 other health and medical groups issued a letter calling for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty. A fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty is modeled on the successful tobacco framework, which was modeled on the earlier nuclear fuel non-proliferation treaty.
The letter states that ending fossil fuel use is needed to protect the health and lives of present and future generations.
It calls for:
1. An immediate end of both activity and investment related to new or expanding fossil fuel exploration and infrastructure.
2. Phasing out existing production and use of fossil fuels in a fair and equitable manner, and for high income countries to give technical and financial assistance to low and middle income countries.
3. Fast-tracking real solutions and ensuring a just transition for countries, communities, and worker.
The letter then lists the health reasons for ending fossil fuels:
1. Air pollution and the myriad health problems it causes including respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and cancer. (We note that air pollution also causes dementia, strokes, developmental and growth problems in children, and cognitive and mental health difficulties for all ages.)
2. Climate change and the health problems it is causing now: wildfires and their smoke, vector-borne and water-borne diseases, heat illness, mental health problems, droughts and floods, extreme weather events, and sea level rise. The letter notes that the physical changes caused by climate change will cause disruption of food, medicine production, health care delivery, and it will force migration from impacted areas.
The letter also lists all the health problems caused by extraction, refining, and transport of fossil fuels.
We will all be so much happier and healthier in a world with clean energy and clean transportation, and we need to move fast because we are already seeing major effects of climate change all over the U.S. We need to be sure any action we take is just and goes to the communities already hit hardest by air pollution and fossil fuel production.
Read a news article in the Guardian about the statement here.
Read the full letter from WHO and other groups here.
09-15-2022
