There is plenty of self-interest in being an environmentalist

One stereotypical view of an environmentalist is someone chained to a tree, prepared to risk their own safety to save another of nature’s creations. But even if you’re not moved by some of the arguments made yesterday, rest assured there are plenty of reasons to tackle the environmental crises we face from a perspective of self-interest too.

As we discussed yesterday, minimising the impact of climate change is clearly in our self-interest. Our planet’s climate has been relatively stable for the past 10,000 years (a period known as the Holocene) and humanity has thrived. We’ve now entered a new geological period known as the Anthropocene - a period where humans are the main driver of global environmental change. The Earth has been around for 4.6 billion years and will survive whatever damage we cause, but the more we push global temperatures beyond the norms of the Holocene the bigger the risk becomes that we don’t.

Civilisation threatening issues aside, there are clear benefits to tackling issues like pollution and plastic waste.

Along with emitting huge amounts of greenhouse gases, one of the main byproducts of burning fossil fuels is air pollution, with particulate matter (specifically PM 2.5) a major concern. Here are some of the health impacts that have been attributed to air pollution:

• Fossil fuel air pollution is responsible for 1 in 5 deaths worldwide

• Children born today will have their lives shortened on average 20 months from breathing polluted air

• The World Health Organisation (WHO) has linked air pollution to a number of health problems, including strokes, heart disease, lung cancer, and various respiratory illnesses

• A UK study linked exposure to air pollution to depression and anxiety

When a coal processing plant near Pittsburgh in the US was closed in 2016 the air quality improved and health outcomes improved, including an immediate 42% decrease in emergency room visits for heart problems and further declines in the three years that followed, and a similar pattern was seen in stroke cases.

Air pollution is an issue that affects almost all of us - the WHO has said “almost the entire global population (99%) breathes air that exceeds WHO air quality limits, and threatens their health”.

Evidence linking chemical pollution and plastic waste to health issues in humans is not as widespread, but we are beginning to understand more about the impacts they have on us:

• Scientists have claimed environmental toxins are worsening the obesity pandemic

• Research in the US found that people exposed to the widely used weedkilling chemical glyphosate have biomarkers in their urine linked to the development of cancer and other diseases

• Exposure to toxic chemicals could be behind the rise in neurological diseases like Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s

• Chemical pollutants have been linked to falling sperm quality

• In New Zealand concerning levels of nitrate levels were found in drinking water supplies, which could raise the danger of bowel cancer

These headlines should be enough to make the case that pollution and plastic waste should be urgently dealt with for health reasons alone.