Going Green- Healthy Humans, Healthy Planet

Written by Andy Douglas - Sheffield GP

As COP26 draws to a close, Andy Douglas reflects on what this means for him, his profession and Sheffield.

‘Cycle to work’ he said, ‘it’ll be fun’ he said.

In my enthusiasm to spread the joy of cycling to work, I have certainly forgotten on a couple of occasions what it is like to cycle in Sheffield city streets as a novice. It’s scary and dangerous and I always feel bad when it becomes clear that I shouldn’t have suggested a novice cyclist throw themselves in at the deep-end, and take on the gauntlet of queens road, for example. Tram tracks, close passes, abuse, noise, fumes, getting pushed off your bike, can it get much worse? Unfortunately there isn’t a shallow-end option.

It’s why the work that Move More does is so important: it’s not just telling people to be more active, it’s trying to adapt the environment and conditions that we live our lives in to make being active the obvious choice. Move More may come across as some kind of physical activity provider or referral system, but in reality is anyone in Sheffield who wants to promote or prioritise ways to be physically active in our city. 

At the moment choosing to be active in Sheffield is hard work, not open to everyone, and sometimes dangerous.

With a warming planet, air pollution, inactivity epidemic, mental health crisis, and pending mass extinction of species it seems to me we cannot keep using fossil fuel powered transport. The covid pandemic is bad but comparable in terms of deaths to air pollution in the UK, which kills approximately 100,000 people per year.

I liked Attenborough’s ‘A Life on Our Planet’, because rather then the usual doom and gloom it provided some hope of a solution. This was of the possibility of a stabilisation in global population meaning we could use, conserve and recycle our resources sustainably in order to see a future for humans on earth.

There are often glimmers of hope for human and climate friendly travel options in Sheffield. It feels like Sheffielders are up for it: we’re known as the outdoor city, we have world class outdoors sports, we are proud of our seven hills, we have a ‘you’ll be reyt attitude’ to most things! The new cycling and walking routes through our city are brilliant and the grey to green stuff is inspiring. Our parks, green spaces and the connections between them, as beautifully illustrated in the Green-ground maps, are some of the best in Europe.

In Sheffield healthcare we are lucky to have ‘Greener Practice’ paving the way on sustainability issues within the NHS. I only recently learned from them that the first rule of making healthcare more green is prevention. Prevention of disease and illness means less medicines, less tests, less transport, less facilities, less packaging, and less money. It’s well known in public health that money spent on physical activity is the most cost effective solution in terms of prevention of disease.

It’s only fairly recently we have discovered quite how bad not being active is for our health. Inactivity contributes to 1 in 6 of all deaths in the UK.

To me, deciding whether to be active in cities like ours isn’t even an option- everyone needs to do it. We can’t continue being inactive, producing emissions, and using resources. We need to embrace active travel, not as a horrible substitute, but instead we need to create the conditions that allow it to be a desirable choice that is enjoyable, sociable, and fun. Like Move More say, we need to create the conditions in our city for a healthier, happier and more connected Sheffield.

Hopefully in five years time we’ll all be able to recommend cycling or walking around Sheffield, without the risk and worry of running the gauntlet each time we step out the front door