Snapshots of 21st-century children's health issues
By David Landry
Just over 22,000 babies were born in Europe on January 1, 2007. When putting environmental concerns into perspective, it should help to try and imagine the kind lives that these children will live, and the kind of future that they will inherit
The New Year, for example, brought the arrival of Espera, a bright-eyed girl born in a West European farming region; Zoe came along on the same day, and he will grow up in a village in Central Europe; baby Daniel, already with something of a serious demeanour, first greeted the light of day in a small city South-Eastern Europe.
All three children might be considered typical of their generation, and have been born into what might be considered typical families. All three are held to be full of promise, and it's very possible that they could one day shape the future by becoming tomorrow's leaders. But one thing is certain: All three inherit today's Europe — that is, "our" Europe.
Climate change is a more or less universally accepted phenomenon, and further change is likely inevitable. Though it is impossible to predict which changes will take place in five, 10 or 15 years, one increasingly convincing argument is that extreme weather events and new threats to human health will accompany changes in climate.
Flooding in 2002 and a heat wave in August 2003 caused untold billions of euros in total damages and cost perhaps thousands of European lives. Both occurrences were cited in a World Health Organization (WHO) policy action guide titled "Health and Climate Change: the Now and How" as part of redoubled efforts to raise awareness of the severity of climate change and its consequences.