Hrev_master


The environmental consequences of climate change are well
known. The rise in the sea-level, increasing temperatures and more
extreme weather events, increased droughts, flooding, and wildfires
are impacting human health and lives. Temperature and humidity
are the most consistent associations with infectious diseases and
respiratory, cardiovascular, and neurological outcomes. Temperature
is also directly related to mortality and healthcare service use.1-3
The most important cause of global warming is the emissions

of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, mainly carbon dioxide
(CO2). The last year (2023) the amount of CO2 production in the
world (fossil origin), was the largest.4
Prof. Petteri Taalas, Secretary-general of the World

Metereological Organization (WMO) reports: “despite decades of
warnings from the scientific community, thousand of pages reports,
and dozens of climate conferences, we are still headings in the
wrong direction”.
But we no longer have time because the consequences of

climate change will be very dangerous and will cause an increase
in mortality by about 30% in the next twenty years. However, the
politicians don’t seem to understand what is happening and what is
mandatory to do immediately.
This is why we can’t wait for the decisions of our rulers. We

need to change our lifestyle and start changing the little things
around us. Therefore it is no longer possible to talk about human
health avoiding talking about its close relationship with climate

change. My purposes are: i) to force every medical conference to
include at least one session related to climate change in its program;
ii) to avoid any plastic object in the conference package; iii) to insert
an environmental protection logo in all the slides presented.
It’s time to act without losing even a minute.

References
1. Perera F, Nadeau K. Climate change, fossil-fuel pollution, and
children’s health. NEJM 2022;386:2303-14. 

2. Portier C, Tart K, Carter S. A human health perspective on
climate change a report Outlining the research needs on the
human health effects of climate change. Environmental Health
Perspectives and the National Institute of Environmental Health
Sciences; 2010. 

3. Watts N, Amann M, Arnell N, et al. The 2020 report of the
Lancet countdown on health and climate change: responding to
converging crises. Lancet 2021; 397:129–70.

4. Battle MO, Raynor R, Kesler S, Keeling R. Technical Note: The
impact of industrial activity on the amount of atmospheric O2,
Atmos. Chem Phys Discuss [preprint] 2023: https://doi.org/
10.5194/acp-2022-765

                                              Emergency Care Journal 2024; volume 20:12290

                                                                         [Emergency Care Journal 2024; 20:12290]                                                        [page 45]

We can and must do something
Andrea Bellone

Academy of Emergency Medicine and Care, Pavia, Italy

Correspondence: Andrea Bellone, Academy of Emergency Medicine
and Care, Pavia, Italy.
E-mail: andreabellone@libero.it

Key words: climate change, health, mortality.

Conflict of interest: the author declares no potential conflict of inter-
est confirms accuracy.

Received: 17 January 2024.
Accepted: 6 February 2024.
Early view: 29 February 2024.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
License (by-nc 4.0).

©Copyright: the Author(s), 2024
Licensee PAGEPress, Italy
Emergency Care Journal 2024; 20:12290
doi:10.4081/ecj.2024.12290

Publisher's note: all claims expressed in this article are solely those of
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