Leading respiratory doctors have joined the chorus of experts urging President Trump not to turn his back on climate change.
The group from the UK and US say in their editorial in Thorax that acting on climate change is one way the new president can make good on his promise to improve the well being of Americans.
The doctors say President Trump should leverage his admiration for the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher by following her example and be at the front of the international climate change pack, not at the back.
“Trump’s campaign suggested that he was unfortunately not minded to act on climate change, ”lead author Dr Nicholas Hopkinson of the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust and Imperial College London, UK told the limbic.
“We felt it was very important to make him aware of the historical precedent where Thatcher, seen as a strong leader and not a “left liberal” had acted decisively on the ozone layer in the 1980s.”
A similar challenge faces us now, he says, noting that there is overwhelming evidence that climate change is happening, driven by human activities that increase atmospheric greenhouse gases.
“Climate change is the single greatest threat to human health we face,” Dr Hopkinson said.