Politicians must grasp nettle to drive towards healthier future (From The Argus)
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Politicians must grasp nettle to drive towards healthier future
12:38pm Monday 23rd January 2012 in Comment and Analysis By Chris Todd
A new report has the first time shown the true picture of Brighton and Hove’s environmental health.
What it shows is an environment under severe stress; something we ignore at our peril.
Contrary to what some believe, the environment isn't a luxury we can think about after we've tackled the ‘serious’ issues like the economy. It is a serious issue in its own right.
Our economy is based on the health of our environmental assets.
For example, concerns about the decline of bee populations have highlighted the important role that bees play in the pollination of crops that we rely on for food. The value of their activity is worth hundreds of millions of pounds to this country every year.
Stimulate
Equally, there is growing evidence of the benefits (including economic) of green space and providing people with access to nature. It can excite, stimulate and refresh people and is good for their physical and mental well-being.
Fit and healthy people are generally happier and therefore less likely to take days of sick. This is good for lowering NHS costs and is good for employers too.
However, all too often, green space, whether it is our manicured parks, our wilder urban fringe sites or the wider downland, is seen as a luxury, not an essential.
If we want to build a healthier and happier society, then we need to debunk this myth.
Green space is an essential need for most people and decision-makers should take it more seriously.
At a time of unprecedented cuts, which have no foreseeable end, we need to focus our scarce economic resources where they will have most impact in driving down long-term costs.
Prevention is nearly always cheaper than cure. We should invest in our environment to encourage people to be more active and thereby healthier and happier and less dependent on the NHS and other government services.
Air pollution
It is not the only factor to consider, but it is an important one.
Another area where little effective action has taken place is air pollution. This is despite estimates that it leads to between 50,000 and 200,000 premature deaths every year in the UK.
This compares to 9,000 premature deaths due to obesity, 15,000 to 20,000 due to alcoholism and 87,000 due to smoking (in England).
In all of these areas the investment in preventative measures is far higher and the issues more widely recognised among medical and social practitioners than for air pollution.
Air pollution has been linked to asthma, chronic bronchitis, heart and circulatory disease, and cancer, yet its social and economic impact goes far wider than that. It also harms nature, reduces crop production and contributes to climate change.
The biggest impact on human health comes from road transport, responsible for 70% of air pollution in urban areas. In Brighton and Hove, which has little industry, this could be even higher.
Missed opportunity
Yet what is most striking is the lack of action by the NHS. The redevelopment of the Royal Sussex County Hospital could be a wonderful opportunity for the NHS to show how we can adapt and change for the future.
Instead it looks like being another missed opportunity, with the current proposals attracting more cars, increasing air pollution and building in long-term costs for the NHS.
Unfortunately, this failure to grasp the nettle, when it comes to significant environmental damage, is no more so than for climate change.
With carbon emissions continuing to increase internationally we are fast running out of time before we enter an unpredictable and potentially turbulent future.
Locally, we are not pulling our weight, having missed targets for reducing carbon emissions year on year.
There is little evidence to show that action taken so far has led to any significant reductions, the slight falls in carbon emissions most likely due to the rise in energy prices.
All these issues require consistent, long-term, and in some cases radical approaches to resolve them.
Environment
If we are not to condemn ourselves to a future blighted by expensive environmental damage, we need politicians to act in the wider public interest and not for short-term party political gain.
That does not mean giving any one party a free hand, but it does mean working constructively to resolve these issues.
One factor in our favour is that many problems would benefit from similar solutions.
For example, improving the environment to encourage more people to walk and cycle will help reduce air pollution, cut carbon emissions and by getting people fitter, reduce obesity and other illnesses.
There are other examples of overlap, such as with downland management, water quality and eco-tourism.
In other words solutions are possible.
The question is are we up for it, or perhaps more importantly, are our politicians?
