Inhaled Anesthetic 2020 Challenge: Reduce Your Inhaled Anesthetic Carbon Emissions by 50%!
Publication Title
ASA Monitor
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-2020
Abstract
Climate change has been named the number-one public health threat of the 21st century. An estimated 150,000 deaths occur annually worldwide due to climate change-mediated health hazards such as extreme weather events, poor air quality, food and water-borne illnesses, vector-borne disease, food and water insecurity, and social instability. Loss of an additional 250,000 lives per year is projected to occur between 2030-2050 from climate change,1 and critical earth systems will be further disrupted in decades to come unless significant action to mitigate emissions is taken urgently.2 The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report concluded that anthropogenic CO2 emissions need to fall by 45% by 2030 compared to pre-industrial baselines, and reach “net zero” by 2050, to limit warming to an average increase of 1.5°C by 2100 in order to avert some of the worst planetary health outcomes. IPCC Co-Chair Debra Roberts, Ph.D., stated that “the next few years are probably the most important in all of human history.”3
Specialty/Research Institute
Environmental Stewardship
Specialty/Research Institute
Anesthesiology
