As 2024 is confirmed as the hottest year on record, DAUK’s sustainability lead Dr Matt Lee says record heat is putting public health at risk.
In this blog, Dr Lee urges the government to work with healthcare professionals on a public awareness campaign about the health impact of climate change.
Hottest year on record
It’s official. 2024 was officially the hottest year on record, breaching for the first time the 1.5C threshold set by the Paris Climate Agreement.
Stable weather patterns we have taken for granted for millennia are breaking down before our eyes and we are seeing the effects of this in the UK and globally.
Last year gave us widespread flooding in north and south Wales, Manchester, Shrewsbury, Worcester, Loughborough, West Sussex, the Isle of Wight, Dorset, Newcastle, Surrey, Oxfordshire.
Just about every region in the UK experienced severe flooding and storms.
Climate change
The increased severity of weather is human-caused climate change through the burning of fossil fuels.
And this is just the beginning. We will experience stronger storms and worse flooding in the years to come.
The Californian wildfires demonstrate the strength of the natural forces around us and the futility of our actions when faced with the impacts of climate change.
During 2024, wildfires in Greece, Portugal, Turkey, Brazil, New Zealand, and other countries caused immense damage. For many people, they brought the climate crisis even closer to home.
What we have previously viewed as ‘normal weather’ is rapidly disappearing.
Rising temperatures
And as we continue to emit more carbon from fossil fuels than we absorb, global temperatures will continue to rise.
Catastrophic weather events will increase in frequency and intensity. They will affect our food production, our public services and our health.
2025 can be the year the UK shifts the dial on climate change action. In addition to the Government’s Net Zero commitments, we must go further and faster to secure a liveable future.
Legislatively, we must pass the Climate and Nature Bill, to lock into law a commitment to restore nature by 2030.
Nature is our greatest ally in reducing carbon emissions. We must help it to help us all. The second reading of the bill is on 24 January and we urge everyone to contact their MPs to ask them to attend.
Public health
Furthermore, we need a public health awareness campaign on the climate crisis.
The UK public needs to know why we have to take stronger and more urgent climate action, in the same spirit as highlighting the importance of wearing masks in the pandemic.
We urge the Government to work with healthcare professionals to make this happen. Our Health, Our Planet is already having an impact in raising this awareness.
We welcome discussions with national and devolved governments on the use and amplification of the resource to raise awareness to everyone what climate change means for our health, and what we must do to secure a safe and liveable future for all.
Please support our work by becoming a member or donating to our Go Fund Me.
