<
https://english.elpais.com/climate/2023-11-16/ditching-fossil-fuels-improves-health-deaths-from-particulate-pollution-have-dropped-16-since-2005.html>
"Fossil fuels — oil, gas and coal — are not only primarily to blame for climate
change, due to the greenhouse gases they release into the atmosphere when
burned to generate energy. They also spew out harmful particulates that
directly impact human health and cause millions of premature deaths around the
world every year. The good news is that weaning ourselves off these fossil
fuels improves global health, and saves lives, as a new macro-study from
The
Lancet Countdown highlights. Between 2005 and 2020, annual deaths attributable
to PM2.5 particles linked to fossil fuels fell from 1,437,000 to 1,212,000, or
a 15.7% reduction, according to the calculations contained in the study, which
was just released to the public on Wednesday, November 15, and involved the
participation of 114 scientists and health professionals from 52 institutions.
The main reason for this drop in premature deaths is the decline in
coal-derived air pollution worldwide, the report explains. Eighty percent of
the reduction in mortality from PM2.5 particles (those with a diameter of less
than 2.5 microns, which are more dangerous than larger particulates) is due to
the decline in coal use. “We are seeing that we are lowering the consumption of
fuels such as coal, which is among the most polluting. By having reduced
emissions linked to coal, we also saved more than 200,000 lives each year,
because we have reduced air pollution,” explains researcher Mariana Romanello,
the executive director of the study. The decrease in the use of coal is also
accompanied by an “exponential” increase around the world in the implementation
of renewables, says Romanello.
This is the good news; the bad news is that humanity’s delay in implementing
measures to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions is already having serious
consequences in the form of heat-related deaths, food insecurity, problems of
access to water, economic losses, etc. And the worst is yet to come, as this
year’s edition of The Lancet Countdown warns. The publication focuses on the
relationship between health and climate change, and its first edition dates
back to 2016. “This year’s report finds few signs of […] progress,” the study’s
authors admit. Warming is already hovering around 1.1 degrees Celsius above
pre-industrial levels and “climate change is placing human health and survival
at risk in every region of the world.”"
Via
Future Crunch:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-domestic-violence-australia-malaria-rwanda-whales-dominica/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
