News from the Secretary, April, 2007
Greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise
The Climate Institute issued a statement on April 27 about the increase in Australia’s greenhouse emissions. It said
. “Greenhouse pollution increases in 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 are above Australian Government projections over the same period indicating current government policies are not having the desired impact. Even with Government projected trends, total emissions in 2010 will be more than 110% of 1990 emissions and it is looking increasing unlikely that Australia will meet its goal of meeting its Kyoto target of 108% of 1990 emissions.
About 60% of Australia’s greenhouse pollution is due to energy consumption. The energy sector is also the fastest growing source of greenhouse pollution in Australia and emissions have increased by 34% since 1990. Excluding the emission reductions as a result of land clearing reductions and increased forestry, pollution from the energy combustion sector has accounted for 93% of the total increase in emissions since 1990.”
Articles on www.dea.org.au have commented frequently on the failure of most countries to arrest the increase in greenhouse emissions and Australia appears to be no different from the others. The underlying problem relates to increased energy consumption in booming consumer economies.
The Climate Institute Report was written and prepared from a variety of sources by Dr Hugh Sadler. We await the government’s own figures and then we can make up our own minds. It would be reasonable to conclude that progress is inadequate in relation to the magnitude of the problem.
Meetings with Federal Ministers, Shadow Ministers and other Members of Parliament
These have now commenced with a recent meeting with Senator Minchin on climate change and its consequences.
DEA Victoria
A small group of enthusiastic DEA Victorian members (three of whom are on the national executive), produced the inaugural Victorian branch newsletter and organised the first Victorian branch meeting earlier this year. They were prompted by the success of the West Australian branch and recognise that the effectiveness of DEA at the national level will be strengthened by more local activity and involvement.
The meeting topic on 13th March was “Global Warming and the Medical Profession”. The meeting was a combined effort by DEA and the Australian Climate Project and appropriately, it was held in the Green Building in Carlton, home of the Australian Conservation Foundation whose staff also assisted with organising the meeting.
The 48 Victorian DEA members were invited as were other interested doctors through personal contact and well-placed advertisements in the medical press. Although attendance was modest, interest was high with several people travelling into Melbourne from as far as Bendigo and even one from Launceston. Several took the opportunity to take a tour of the environmentally friendly Green Building before the meeting.
Four presentations were made with Grant Blashki taking centre stage, giving an adapted version of Al Gore's “An Inconvenient Truth” after his training with Al Gore and the Climate Project late last year. (one of 2 from DEA who took part in this exercise with 80 others from around Australia). Colin Butler spoke on projected sea level rise and its likely impact on refugee numbers and national security, Sarah Morton invited those present to write there and then to their Members of Parliament expressing their concern as doctors about climate change and Lindsay Quennell spoke briefly on the effectiveness of collective action by doctors drawing on the impact of IPPNW in the 1980s as an example of what can be achieved. All in all it was a good start to what is hoped to be an active DEA branch in Victoria.
Doctors for the Environment, Australia web page www.dea.org.au
The new web site has resulted in a large increase in the number of “hits” which is pleasing. The task now is to increase the content relevant to members. We are conscious that members of a nation-wide organization need a means of interaction and exchange of views and so the next step in our web site reform will be the institution of a “blog”. This will be open to members only and is intended to encourage and facilitate discussion. We have instituted two articles as examples. The first article, written by me is already posted on the main page of the site. By placing it on the blog, you are able to comment on it. We will adopt this policy with other controversial articles. The second article illustrates that we want you to submit on any subject relevant to you which you feel will be of interest to other members. When you make a comment it will be viewed by me (for legal reasons) and should appear within 24 hours.
In conclusion, until now comments on DEA, our policies, and the subjects that you think we should be pursuing have been addressed to me as secretary. We are inviting you to make these comments via the blog to the entire membership. In a review of our functioning conducted at the last AGM, it was apparent that members wanted more interaction—this blog is an opportunity!
To contribute you will need a password.
To register with the DEA website click here: http://dea.org.au/user/register
Enter your preferred username and email address plus the following registration code:
YA6GBWZ9. The secretary would prefer your surname as the username, but the choice is yours!
Nanotechnology
A draft policy paper prepared by DEA WA member Don Reid is now on our web site (see Policy). We thank Don for his initiative. Those interested in this topic, please send comments and possible additions to the secretary.
AGM and Scientific Meeting, 3-4 November 2007
John Stokes, DEA Treasurer, indicates that we will meet in conjunction with the WACRRM (WA Centre for Remote and Rural Medicine) ‘Fremantle Educational Weekend’ on Sat 3rd and Sun 4th November. WACRRM runs several regional activities for rural GPs and this is their annual major state-wide meeting which is jointly run with the educational committee of Fremantle Hospital. It is planned that DEA will invite speakers of national eminence for the Saturday morning session and may run a parallel session on Saturday afternoon.
The meeting will attract CME points and will be a tax deductible expense. The DEA AGM and dinner will be held on Friday evening, 2 November. In notifying DEA members now we suggest that these dates go into your diary and that you plan to come to Fremantle.
Al Gore’s Messengers
For an interesting article involving Al Gore’s climate change messengers and DEA committee member Grant Blashki go to
http://www.racgp.org.au/AM/Template.cfm?Section=March&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=15518 and click on Warming Times.` This article was written by Chris Miles and featured in the March 2007 edition of GPReview, a publication of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.
Health Costs and Global Warming
Feature article in The Age 28 April, with comments from Tony McMichael and David Shearman
http://www.theage.com.au/news/in-depth/health-costs-of-global-warming/2007/04/27/1177459981956.html
Membership renewal of subscriptions
This will be the final newsletter that non-financial members receive, for the membership list of incorporated organisations has to be accurate. Please look at the extent of our efforts and achievements and we feel we will have your vote of confidence—and receive your subscription.