Reducing Greenhouse Pollutants will Save Millions of Lives
by Daniel Hohler on Jan.27, 2011, under Writing
New research out of the UK shows definitively that reducing greenhouse gases can save millions of lives around the world. The research makes use of case studies to demonstrate the co-benefits of tackling climate change in four sectors: electricity generation, household energy use, transportation, and food and agriculture.
The studies were commissioned by the NIEHS, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in part to help inform discussions next month at the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen.
One study showed that providing low-emission stove technologies in poor countries that currently rely on solid fuel household stoves to cook and heat their homes is cost effective, will reduce greenhouse pollution by hundreds of millions of tons, and could prevent 2 million premature deaths due to pollution in India alone.
“Combustion-related air pollution is estimated to be responsible for nearly 2.5 million premature deaths annually around the world and also for a significant portion of greenhouse warming.” – Kirk R. Smith, professor of global environmental health
These studies provide the kind of concrete information needed to choose actions that efficiently reduce this health burden as well as reduce the threat of climate change. When we reduce pollution around the world, everyone can benefit.
Source: Science Daily
Image Credit: melancholic optimist on Flickr
Originally Published: November 29, 2009 http://planetsave.com/2009/11/29/reducing-greenhouse-pollutants-will-save-millions-of-lives/
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