Salisbury GP involved in UK's first citizens' assembly on climate change

Dr Helena McKeown, who is the British Medical Association's (BMA) representative body chair, is a strategic observer at the assembly.

The assembly is being advised by experts on climate change and is bringing people together to discuss how the UK can reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. It will then make recommendations.

The assembly was called by six Select Committees of the House of Commons in a bid to understand what the public thinks about how the UK should tackle climate change.

Dr McKeown says she would like to see the UK aim to become carbon neutral by 2030 instead of 2050 and believes the government has been "unambitious" in its aims.

She said: "I would like us to be more ambitious but it will to a degree depend on what ordinary people are prepared to do when given the information by the experts. I think that is great in itself as an outcome and is really useful for our own politicians to understand what people are prepared to do."

In June 2019, the BMA declared a climate emergency and called for carbon neutrality by 2030, highlighting the significant impacts of climate change on health.

Dr McKeown added: "Doctors in the South West, including Salisbury, are really concerned about the climate. We're concerned about the affect it has on our patients and the environment.

"I became worried because I had patients who had never had asthma or shortness of breath in May each year. I asked myself the question, why do people get short of breath in May and why are they getting short of breath in Salisbury when they have never been before?"

Salisbury has a number of areas where the air quality is monitored and Dr McKeown says Salisbury's medieval street structures mean NOx gases produced by diesel cars are "particularly prominent" as they "hang low" especially around the height of buggies. The affect, she says, is worsened by certain weathers.

She said: "Doctors in the South West became aware of the air quality issues and various climate change issues because in medicine we are going to see more of certain diseases as well as more breathing problems. People do actually die unfortunately with heat. Doctors are concerned about this."

The meetings are being held over four weekends. The first assembly, held last weekend, saw Sir David Attenborough speak.

"I get a chance to input and help make practical things out of what the hundred citizens decide to do," added Dr McKeown.

"We've never done this before in this country. This is one of the things that has been called for by Greta Thunberg, Extinction Rebellion and the climate change students on their Friday strikes.

"It does suggest that the government are really listening to what people are prepared to do."

"One of the things I would like to get out of this is easy things for everyone to do. Again if you listen to the young people with their Friday strikes we actually need government change.

"Hopefully, the government might think and realise actually the public would be prepared for the government to be more ambitious," she said.

"The joy of the citizens assembly is you get to hear what the people are prepared to do and hopefully that will embolden the government to make the big governmental changes that they need to do."