"In through the nose, out through the mouth — fossil fuels got to get phased out!"No, these lyrics were not written by some artist on Spotify — they were written by some of Canada's trusted doctors, at the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil.Canadian doctors sang this tune in front of onlookers — making a statement about the health impacts of emissions, while dancing along.In the words of Dr. Courtney Howard, a Canadian Emergency Physician, who also ran for the leadership of the federal Green Party back in 2020, "We need to make sure that our negotiators understand that a transition to clean energy also prevents local toxic health impacts from resource extraction."However, she says, "We haven't even studied those health impacts."."So those numbers, those health costs are not on anybody's budget table — they are treated as uncounted externalized health costs and that is unacceptable."Howard claims transitioning to clean energy would decrease "air pollution and water pollution to allow our healthcare system to continue to function appropriately to take care of not only this generation but future generations."Howard is also the Chair of the Global Climate & Health Alliance (CGCHA), which mobilizes "the health community worldwide and accelerates climate action to protect and improve health for all."CGCHA is partly funded by the Canadian Medical Association. .In a video by Friends of Science (FOC), a non-profit society, run by scientists, engineers, economists, and business experts, starring Michelle Stirling, their Communications Manager, claims that modern healthcare relies on oil, natural gas and coal."When you look at Western developed nations where oil, natural gas, and coal have proliferated, longevity and standards of living went up.""Everything in modern medicine relies on the product streams of oil natural gas, and coal — all of these special sterile, single use plastics, high tech equipment, advanced equipment for various joint replacements, specialized diagnostics like CT scans and MRIs and the massive high quality electrical power required."In a 2015 report on health related to coal and wildfires by the FOC, life expectancy increased due to coal-fired power plant electrification because of its "ensuing ability to offer advanced medical care, life expectancy at birth has gone from about 58.8 years in 1921."
