17 August 2021
Six months ago, Callum
Swift thought it would be hard to persuade other European Doctors that the
climate crisis was going to affect their careers in every aspect over the next
decade.
Now the emergency
medicine doctor says that it’s not going to take any persuasion to show people
that, “this is something that’s happening.”
The recent floods,
fires and storms the worldover “frightened the hell out of me”, in his own
words.
For the past two
years, Dr. Swift has been channelling a good portion of his energy as one of
the chairs for Irish Doctors for Environment, an organisation of medical
professionals dedicated to improving the health of the environment.
Just last month, IDE wrote
and shared on Twitter a letter to RTÉ expressing their “deep disappointment” of
the broadcaster’s coverage of extreme weather events.
“To report on these record-breaking weather
events without mentioning climate change is as egregious as reporting on the
unprecedented spike in ICU admissions last April without mentioning a global
pandemic,” they observed.
Less than a week
later, RTÉ responded, with a shift in how RTÉ news is covering climate change.
“Everyone else had
been doing the shouting. Our voice just happened to be loudest at the time,” IDE
operations officer Dr. Rachel MacCann recalled.
How it all started
The group formed in
2018 when Dr. McCann exchanged messages with a few other junior doctors. Initially,
she was interested in organising a beach clean. But that was just the
beginning.
“We all kind of had
these individual aspirations and felt like we didn’t have the network that we
could do something,” she told The Green
News.
The group began with “interested
people just meeting once a month, chatting about what we were interested in and
what we wanted to see change in healthcare,” according to Dr. MacCann. “Then quickly things kind of spiralled from
there.”
Personally, Dr.
MacCann has “always had an interest” in the environment.
She remembers as a child
she collected money for the World Wildlife Fund to try to save species from
extinction. Fast forward to today, and she’s now glad that she’s in the “position
I am to be able to try and do something about it.”
For Dr. Swift, the
climate crisis has always been on his radar.
But prior to joining
IDE, he says he didn’t actively engage with it apart from some small changes,
like eliminating meat from his diet. After he went to his first IDE meeting,
he’s been “helping in whatever way he can.”
Due to the demands of their
work schedules, IDE’s group structure is such that members can be as committed
as they can or want to be.
“We like having it
kind of flowing so people can come and join and be really involved for a few
months. And then if they get busy or have to move away, that’s fine,” Dr.
MacCann said.
Members can subscribe
to a newsletter, get updates through a WhatsApp group, or work in committees.
There are about a dozen committee chairs and working group chairs in the
organisation. People can propose their own projects. Essentially, they will take whatever support
they can get from their members. Through this, their reach has expanded.
“It’s been amazing to see how much it’s
grown over the last few years,” Dr. Swift noted.
Health effects
Within the realm of healthcare,
the effects of climate change are prevalent. For example, both Dr. MacCann and
Dr. Swift stressed the risk air pollution poses to health.
“More people die from air pollution related deaths in Ireland than
from breast cancer,” Dr. Swift noted. “Worldwide air pollution causes
more deaths than all wars, HIV, and TB, combined. So, you know, it’s one of the
biggest
killers in the world.” There is also of course the immediate deaths that result
from extreme weather.
Creating cleaner cities would also have an
important effect. As Dr. MacCann told The Green News, “there’s no point
fixing someone’s asthma and sending them to go home where their environment is
in poor condition.”
Dr. MacCann also
stressed in Ireland there is no actual carbon counting for the healthcare
sector.
She hopes that creating such a system could
be the first step to implementing a sustainable healthcare system. By focusing
on action-focused policy, she hopes for viable solutions.
“Changing a system is
really hard and it’s not something that I think anyone could take on easily,
but if you don’t try then you’ll get nowhere,” said Dr. MacCann. Although, she noted, “COVID has shown us that
systems can change quite quickly.”
Rapid, science-centred
response
After being on the
front lines of a pandemic, these doctors have noticed some parallels between
the response to COVID and the climate crisis. When there is threat to the
collective – either through an air-borne virus impending climate collapse –
individual and systemic action is need to address the crisis.
These past 18 months
have demonstrated to Dr. MacCann that we do not have a resilient healthcare
system here in Ireland. In some ways, IDE members see COVID as a precursor of
what could come if the climate crisis is not adequately addressed.
“In the event of an
even greater threat than COVID, which will be climate change, we need to be
able to prepare to be able to cope with that,” urged Dr. MacCann. “Can we do
that in the most sustainable way?”
To address that question
and more, IDE wrote a letter to the Dáil urging a climate-centred approach to reopening
after COVID. They outlined the need to build a more equitable world with a
functioning healthcare system and secure energy supply.
“COVID reset systems that we can change,” Dr. Swift explained. “We wanted to really urge the government to
use it and as opportunity for a greener and just recovery and a just recovery
and not just hyper-accelerate the old business as usual.”
What’s next for IDE?
The group is involved
in a number of working groups and projects, from active transport to air quality. Though the two big areas where
they are working in is related to education and policy development.
They are developing a curriculum
for medical students to learn about climate change and health.
“Whether they believe it or not, it’s going
to affect them. So, we need to be teaching about it now,” Dr. Swift urged.
In terms of policy,
Dr. MacCann is striving for medical professionals to be involved with decisions
that affect outcomes for the environment. She wants to ensure that “everyone
that should be at the table” is there.
She would also like to
see “the IDE included, or health professionals being included in these policy
developments.” Particularly, she’s interested in carbon counting and sustainability
developments across the healthcare system.
Taking action to
address the climate crisis can feel overwhelming – even for people who save
lives all day for their job. But that’s not a reason to not act, these doctors urged.
Rather than shutting
down with apathy when learning about this crisis, action and doing something is
the better approach, according to Dr. Swift.
“When you feel like
you’re doing something, no matter how small and ineffectual it is, it’s a
natural human positive reaction to that.
“It helps you deal
with the stress and anxiety of this huge problem that no one person can really
do anything about, but at least if you’re doing something,” he said.
If you are a medical professional or student interested in
doing something, Dr. MacCann says, “we’re always looking for people to support
us and get involved.”
Or if you aren’t in healthcare and are interested their work,
you can check out their website, podcast, or follow them on social media.
By Sam Starkey with additional reporting from Kayle Crosson
The post Irish Doctors for the Environment: “it’s amazing to see how much it’s grown” appeared first on Green News Ireland.
