After the American Public Health Association, it is the
Ontario College of Family Physicians’ turn to sound the alarm on health problems
related to global warming.
In a report entitled Addressing the Health Effects of Climate Change: Family
Physicians are Key, the College warns that “The harmful effects of global
warming on health will be profound and irreversible if we do not take action
together now.”
Among the most serious health effects of global warming, the College cites heat
and smog related illnesses, such as heatstroke and respiratory infections, the
propagation of infectious diseases such as malaria and the health effects of
extreme meteorological phenomena such as violent storms, drought and flooding.
Upon reading the report, it appears certain that the health effects of global
warming will be one of the main challenges the medical community will have to
overcome, but it is all of humanity that must regain the ability to live in
harmony with Nature.
The damage we do to the world in which we live is damage we do to ourselves.
“Humanity does not weave this web of life. We are merely a strand of it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves,” said Chief Seattle.
Since early antiquity, the different civilizations of humanity have recognized
and taken into account the intelligent balance of Nature and the undeniable
interrelationship we have with her.
Today, it is essential for us to regain this fundamental balance in order to
pursue, for ourselves and for generations to come, this marvellous adventure we
call evolution.
For the love of the world, we must rediscover the pathways of dialogue with our
mother, the Earth.
