On Monday 18th June 2007 160 conference delegates attended the Natural England Health Conference. The conference explored how high quality natural green spaces can enhance the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities. www.naturalengland.org.uk.
Lords Cricket Ground was an ideal venue with much of the conference facility overlooking the nursery and practice grounds. Unfortunately only a limited amount of play was possible for Middlesex and Essex due to rain! www.lords.org/lords-ground/about-lords/
Some of the statistics presented by the speakers were shocking! 1 in 4 adults and children are obese and heart disease alone costs the UK £29 Billion per year. Christine Hancock from the Oxford Health Alliance reported that there are 3 risk factors that cause chronic diseases, these are tobacco use, lack of physical activity and poor diet. Health professionals are projecting that by 2020 there will be an explosion of chronic diseases which will be both unaffordable and unmanageable.
Each delegate completed a form upon arrival giving details of their journey, mode/s of transport and the distance travelled. At the close of the event the collective information was presented by Marches Energy Agency, http://www.mea.org.uk/ 160 people travelled 28,486 miles, which equates to all the way around the Earth! 90.7% travelled by train, this resulted in 2,180kg CO2 being emitted into the atmosphere. If we had all travelled in an average car it would have been a whopping 8,458kg CO2. 2 delegates travelled by plane a total distance of 32,000 miles, this added a further 9,900kg of CO2 emissions. Emissions from the venue added a further 194kg CO2. The total CO2 footprint for the day was 12,274kg CO2 (76.7kg per delegate).
Your personal CO2 allowance for the year is 1800kg. We each used 4.3% of our annual allowance on 18th June.
Nick Ross did a fantastic job as the conference chair (your loss BBC!). Delegates were able to vote electronically on important debates by texting their views on key pads. The conference concluded with the identification of two key actions in three areas to advance the connection between health and the natural environment.
At the close of the event delegates were asked to hand in their plastic badge holders so they can be re-used. In an effort to encourage more exercise and reduce our carbon footprint each delegate was given a pedometer. This is an interesting device and something I’ve never used before. It is recommended that everyone should take 10,000 steps a day to constitute being “healthy”. Having now used one for several weeks I have established that my average is 6,500 to 7,500 per day so I have some work to do!
Lets all get walking and enjoy our green open spaces!
