#Ride for Their Lives - UK Peds Docs Cycle to COP 26
Originally published in The Sudbury Star on Oct. 30, 2021
Great Ormond Street Hospital, in the heart of London, is affectionately known as GOSH. On the morning of Oct. 24, its excited team of riders gathered out front, mounted their bicycles, and headed for Granary Square to join health professionals (and a few former patients) from pediatric hospitals all over the UK on a cycling trip to Glasgow. Their purpose: to deliver some very critical documents to the world’s leaders at COP26 on behalf of the global health community.
Those same documents had already survived an 860 km bicycle trek from WHO headquarters in Geneva Switzerland, carefully protected from wind, rain, and sweat by “occasional cyclist” Dr. Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, head of the WHO’s Climate and Health Program.
With some relief, @DiarmidCL handed over the burden of responsibility to Dr. Finella Craig, a children’s palliative care specialist at GOSH, the UK’s equivalent of Sick Kids, and the second half of their journey began.
So what are these documents? The first is a copy of the WHO’s new report called “The Health Argument for Climate Action”, prepared in consultation with the international health community. The second is the Prescription for a Healthy Climate, addressed to world leaders soon to gather at COP26, and signed by groups representing 45 million health professionals from around the world. The team of riders will also deliver a copy of the latest Lancet Countdown report and a recent editorial published in 220 medical journals calling for emergency action on climate change for the sake of human health.
As the cyclists made their final preparations, Dr. Craig spoke of the twin threats of climate change and air pollution: “Our feeling is that as children’s health professionals, we’ve got a duty to protect children’s health, and my personal feeling is that if I ignore the issue, or say nothing about the issue, it means that I don’t care, or I don’t think it matters. And actually . . . it really, really does matter . . . so we have to do something. And I’m not alone in that everyone who’s cycling with me . . . and millions of children’s health professionals across the world . . . we’re all really concerned!”
An 840 km cycling trip requires both mental and physical preparation. “Green Machine” Dr. Ewan Wallace, a Glasgow specialist in pediatric anesthesia and chronic pain, began training by cycling to work, and getting in as many miles as possible on the weekends.
Pediatrician “Alex” found personal motivation in the knowledge that air pollution affects the health of children before they are even born. Alex gave birth to her first child in a city with some of the dirtiest air in the world.
@DrMarkHayden from GOSH gathered energy from conviction: “As an intensivist, I know that when someone’s really sick, just like the planet, it’s no good sitting around talking about it. It’s no good making promises for the future, you need to take immediate action.”
@SustainaPhil, a charismatic sustainability officer from Sheffield, recruited members of his fabulous family to prepare refreshment pitstops along the way.
Children’s psychiatrist Dr. Catriona Mellor wrote a thought-provoking blog-post for the British Medical Journal, called “The Climate Crisis: How do we show we care?
@DrMikeMcKean, a children’s cardiac care doc from Newcastle on Tyne in the north of England, booked a ticket to London, and tweeted a photo of his bicycle securely strapped to the train’s bike rack.
#RideForTheirLives participants are scheduled to arrive in Glasgow on October 31st, the opening day of COP26, to deliver their documents and demand action, on behalf of the world’s children.
Their trip has raised awareness of the impacts of climate change and air pollution on children’s health and demonstrated that the UK’s pediatric health professionals care. Each kilometer they’ve ridden is also a demonstration of the dramatic health benefits of emissions-free active transportation. We can only hope world leaders are watching and listening.