CLIMATE CHANGE FEATURE
Wind farm on the borders of Scotland
healthcare community that outlined the need for urgent action on air pollution and the wider climate crisis . This included the Healthy Climate Prescription letter ( https :// healthyclimateletter . net /). The letter was signed by health organisations around the world , representing an astonishing 45 million healthcare workers – you may have seen the blue satchel in the blue room in COP26 coverage .
The riders included healthcare professionals from varied backgrounds , including two occupational therapists , Jacqueline Gordon and Sophie White , and two young people who had been Great Ormond Street Hospital patients .
Some people rode the whole way , others joined for parts of the journey , and each day was an average of 70 miles – further than most of us had ever ridden .
We cycled through city centres , down small country roads and in all kinds of weather . Each day we formed four or five groups – all named after trees – to make travelling and watching out for each other easier . Along the way people chatted and made friends , shared snacks , got lost , puffed and panted up hills , and whooped , speeding downhill .
There were dozens of punctures along the way , people fell off , rode into bushes , had to carry bikes over stiles and muddy tracks and pushed through pain and tiredness . One person rode a Jump / Lime bike all the way to see if it would be possible – it was .
On the way to Glasgow , the group stopped at children ’ s hospitals across the UK for events in Birmingham , Sheffield and Newcastle . Pollution Pods ( www . kingscross . co . uk / event / pollution-pods ), an award-winning art installation , dramatising the air quality crisis , joined the riders in all these cities .
The riders were not sponsored , but asked people to consider a lifestyle change to promote clean air or to join a virtual ride via an online platform . The result was a total of over one million kilometres , as people joined the ride from all around the world , demonstrating huge support .
People over the world pledged changes in their own lives : both personal things , such as eating less meat and cycling to the shop , and also public acts , such as ensuring their school in East London was free of single use plastic and planting a fruit orchard in Namibia .
Climate change is the biggest issue of our time and affects us all . The provision of clean drinking water is widely considered a basic right and certainly in the UK dirty / contaminated drinking water is unacceptable . Clean air , however , is a different matter .
Our most populated places generally have the poorest air quality and many places that children will go as part of their daily life are hot spots of dangerously polluted air . The numbers are frightening ; air pollution affects short term and long-term health , particularly in children .
In the UK , it is estimated that 12,000 respiratory admissions to hospital a year and 30,000 premature deaths are linked to air pollution ( https :// wintoncentre . maths . cam . ac . uk / news / does-airpollution-kill-40000-people-each-year-uk /).
Particulates cross the placenta and affect unborn children ; studies in Beijing in 2008 showed that when air quality was improved in the run up to the Olympics , premature births , stroke and heart attacks rates fell dramatically . In Scotland , following the ban on smoking in public places , childhood asthma rates fell by 18 per cent ( www . ashscotland . org . uk / what-we-do / supply-information-abouttobacco-and-health / resources / national-evaluation-of-scotlandssmoke-free-legislation . aspx ).
Our responsibility as occupational therapists is to support , enable and empower children and their families to lead fulfilling and meaningful lives . Are we observing our duty as occupational therapists if we do nothing to ensure a basic right to clean air ?
The ride ends , but the journey to become sustainable practitioners continues . We are writing this with tired legs , a few days after our long ride to COP26 , and are now considering the beginning of an even bigger challenge . Where do we go from here ?
The NHS has pledged to become carbon net zero by 2040 – we all need to be involved . The idea that a single email , leading to a journey and an international project has been impactful beyond anyone ’ s imagination .
Connections have been made and ideas sparked and shared . Moving forward we plan to continue to meet as allied health professionals to share sustainable initiatives within our practice . We need to act now to inspire others to act . What will you do ?
Reference
The Lancet ( 2021 ) Air pollution – time to address the silent killer , 9 ( 11 ): P1203 . DOI : https :// doi . org / 10.1016 / S2213-2600 ( 21 ) 00448-3
Jacqueline Gordon , occupational therapist , acute neurosciences , Great Ormond Street Hospital , email : Jacqueline . gordon3 @ nhs . net or Follow : @ e8Muffin , and Sophie White , occupational therapist , Great Ormond Street Hospital , email : Sophiewhite @ nhs . net . For more on what you can do see : https :// climateacceptancestudios . com . Please do get in touch if you would like to work together on AHP sustainability projects
OTnews December 2021 27