Our health is at the mercy of fossil fuel merchants

WHILE many citizens and leaders feel angry over the fact that little progress has been made on climate change since the 2015 COP21 talks, it’s important to remember that these talks have been ongoing since the United Nations hosted a signing of such frameworks in the first place back in 1992.

Since that signing ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, fossil fuel consumption has increased almost 60%.

That impact goes beyond the massive amount of emissions into the earth’s atmosphere.

The energy markets’ ongoing volatility has continued to result in global supply chain snags, volatile markets and geopolitical conflicts.

Further, despite an sizeable increase in the deployment of fossil fuels, many citizens across the globe do not have the means to keep themselves cool in summer or warm during the winter; they lack a safe way to cook; and they often lack access to safe secure forms of electricity to keep the lights on.

Even more damning, the report found that close to 60% of healthcare facilities in lowand middle-income nations lack access to reliable electricity — a harbinger of what’s to come as climate change exacts more of a toll on many nations’ healthcare systems.

“With the worsening health impacts of climate change compounding other coexisting crises, populations worldwide increasingly rely on health systems as their first line of defense,” explained the report’s authors.

“However, just as the need for healthcare rises, health systems worldwide are debilitated by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the energy and cost-of-living crises.”

Bottom line, while disinvestment continues in many healthcare systems, energy companies are reaping massive profits, a specter that does not bode well for healthcare systems worldwide as it appears the climate crisis will only worsen.

Leon Kaye