Category: Pollution
-
Waste Incineration: Is it the Answer to Australia’s Garbage Problem?
Melissa Tahu and Peter Tait To date, discussion of waste-to-energy incineration has focused on the potential health effects of incinerators. However, other social and economic effects of waste management and incineration need to be brought into the policy conversation. Australia has a garbage problem. Between 2022-23, Australia produced approximately 75.6…
-
Surfers savvy on public health priorities
Belinda Lawton and Dr Amy Peden Cleaning up the ocean and working to prevent drowning have topped a list of surfers’ funding priorities, reflecting the health issues which are most likely to affect them in the waves. Despite the attention given to the risk of shark attack, the largest ever…
-
Why the ban on single use e-cigarettes is good for EVs
Vincent So, CEO, the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand As part of the Federal Budget, Health Minister Mark Butler announced a ban on the importation of single use e-cigarettes (vapes), non-prescription e-cigarettes, and the sale of e-cigarettes outside of pharmacies. There has already been significant coverage on e-cigarette…
-
Natural systems in Australia are unravelling. If they collapse, human society could too
Liz Hanna, Australian National University and Mark Howden, Australian National University In the long-delayed State of the Environment report released this week, there is one terrifying sentence: “Environmental degradation is now considered a threat to humanity, which could bring about societal collapses.” Hyperbole? Sadly not. Climate change has already warmed…
-
Australia’s ratified the Minamata Convention on Mercury. What happens next?
Dr Silvana Bettiol – University of Tasmania On December 7, 2021, Australia became the 136th State party to ratify the Minamata Convention on Mercury. The Convention seeks to protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds. It addresses 11 of the United…
-
Why do democratic governments keep letting their people suffer the impacts of climate disruption?
Malcolm Baalman – PHAA The circus that was the UN Climate Conference in Glasgow has come and gone. The results in terms of protecting the health of the world’s people look like being, well, just about net zero. COP26 – more accurately, the 26th annual conference of the 197 member…
-
What’s in the WHO’s COP26 Special Report on Climate Change and Health?
Anna Alex – PHAA intern Leading up to COP26 in Glasgow next week, the World Health Organisation has released a special report, the Health Argument for Climate Action, outlining 10 recommendations made by the global health community for Heads of States to consider as priority areas and actionable points. The…
-
Forum calls for health to be the main driver for climate action
Jeremy Lasek – PHAA In responding to COVID-19, governments everywhere, including in Australia, have dropped the ball on protecting the health of its citizens by taking their eye off the growing climate change crisis. This was one of the clear messages from last week’s Better Futures Forum, a three-day…