ecoAmericans in Paris Day 1: COP21 Climate and Health Talks With John M. Balbus

At the last COP meeting in Copenhagen in 2009, there was only one side event focused on health and climate. This year at COP21 in Paris there has been several each day, with hundreds of thousands of people attending. More than 15 country delegations that include high-level health officials, including health ministers, are here for the monumental event.

This has not gone unnoticed by one ecoAmerican in Paris: John M. Balbus, a medical doctor with a Master’s in Public Health who serves as senior advisor to the director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Services, within the National Institutes of Health. He is presenting at health seminars on the sidelines of COP21 that point out the critical links between health and climate, and the important role medical and health professionals can play in helping the public understand this link.

“I think that the health community has very important voices within the United States. The more we can get rank-and-file members of the health community talking about these issues repeatedly and in a normal manner…I think that’s one of the best things we can do to overcome divisions about climate change.”

The effects of climate change on people’s health are evident in the U.S. and abroad. Warmer temperatures at higher altitudes are facilitating the spread of diseases like Dengue and Chikungunya. Heat stress is also a problem, with delegates Balbus is meeting both here in Paris and in the United States. “Especially in developing countries there are huge issues about health stresses and economic stresses,” Balbus added, “ because people are just not able to work outdoors under extreme heat.”

But Balbus is optimistic that the momentum he is experiencing at COP21 bodes well for climate solutions in the near future. Balbus continued, “There are all kinds of signs of hope here. I think that a number of countries have come to Paris absolutely committed to making reductions in their greenhouse gases, even in the absence of binding agreements. The mood that the countries came here with and the determination that they have…hopefully, we’ll see that turn into a good resolution at the end of next week.”

Balbus says that seeing Bill Gates and other donors in Paris starting to put large amounts of money toward climate solutions is very encouraging. He can cite a number of ways the United States may continue to lead on this issue in the health sphere.

“A person like Jeff Thompson, former Chief Executive Officer of Gundersen Health System, whom I interviewed at a COP21 side event on Wednesday, has taken a medium-sized health system and made it a net energy producer with 100% renewable energy, which decreased his carbon footprint by 70-80%. I think when it comes to the technological innovation in the health care sector and to deliver quality health care without a large carbon footprint, the U.S. has the technical know-how to really be leaders in this space.”

The most important thing he and other health leaders can do now, says Balbus, is get the message out that climate and health are intertwined, but that there are things we can do both to adapt and to mitigate climate change. And faith leaders must join them. If we are to leave our children a healthy planet as God intended them to have, we must act immediately to ensure the health of every individual. 

“We have to have this conversation about climate and health frequently,” Balbus said, “and it has to be a positive conversation. There are enormous amounts of benefits to our economy and our health from taking really strong action on climate change. Not just incremental marginal action, but the kind of action we need to avert the most serious manifestations of climate change. And if we can get that message out, repeatedly, like ecoAmerica’s Climate for Health programs and others are doing, so that it becomes a normal, socialized part of our discourse, that’s the best thing that we can do.”

Faith leaders in the climate community are quickly recognizing the health impact of climate change. Keeping our fellow Americans and those abroad safe from diseases and incurable ailments caused by climate change. Together we may be the necessary change for real solutions.