Social media has an unbelievable amount of power and, as we saw with the People's Climate March last year, can inspire and create large scale social movements. Health professionals "get" this, and are proving this via a variety of social mediums. Later this month on Twitter and Facebook, the Global Climate and Health Alliance will be pushing out a Thunderclap regarding 'Our Climate, Our Health'. This is a way for medical professionals to encourage a loud and unified message that climate change has a tremendous impact on public health. The Thunderclap also serves as a call to action to world leaders who will be attending the United Nations climate negotiations (COP21) this December. Incidentally, Climate for Health has been using the same hashtag, #ClimateHealth, to mark overlaps between climate and health for some time now, so you will see our posts when you search with this term. Are you a health professional who uses social media? Join the movement: it's only a click away.
By Global Climate & Health Alliance
At the end of 2015, the eyes of the world will be on Paris for the UN climate negotiations, COP21. Over 25,000 delegates, including climate negotiators, health and finance ministers, will gather from around the world to agree on how to tackle climate change.
We need to let them know that our health matters, that it is threatened by climate change, and that we want urgent action to ensure healthy lives, safety and security for ourselves and future generations. More than this, action on climate change - such as scaling up clean energy and active transport infrastructure - can greatly improve public health, saving lives and public money.
Join us by taking part in the 'Our Climate, Our Health' campaign to help highlight the ways in which health is at stake from climate change, and the huge opportunity we have to improve health and save lives if we act now.
We are asking people to join the Thunderclap to share this message, and to post a photo of themselves on twitter or facebook with the hashtag #ClimateHealth and what climate and health means to them.
