Not covid-19, but climate is the biggest threat to our health.

After we've been globally banned (and it's not over...) from covid-19 for about a year and a half, it seems strange to read the above line. After around 2,000,000 infections and 18,000 deaths in the Netherlands, we know that the Corona flu is not just a flu virus, but has caused loneliness, fears, worries and sadness.

In financial and material terms, the covid damage seems to be not too bad for the majority of our population. The budget of our outgoing cabinet has room to free up money for extra investments in, among other things, climate issues, and the economic growth figures can be called impressive.

Yet, during the General Reflections of our parliament, I got the feeling that our political representatives in the House of Representatives lived in a different world than I did. In my view, it is significant that the formation of a cabinet has become a lengthy issue lasting at least six months and that in the meantime the national interest requires a strong cabinet to tackle everything related to climate change and nitrogen problems in combination with the blocked housing construction.

And then we come back to the headline of this piece: climate change appears to be worse for our health than covid-19 according to a number of doctors. Anyone who does a little digging into the matter will see that it is more than improving some nature reserves and keeping some bird species aloft. It is mainly about our health. Will we still be able to live on this planet? It is not surprising that so many people in this world travel to get things better elsewhere. Why better? Because there are already areas where it is increasingly difficult to get your necessary food. Because there are already areas affected by periods of extreme drought. Because there are already areas that are being devastated by storms of unimaginable severity. Our health is at risk and that danger is getting closer and closer to our national borders.

People, Profit and Planet. It is time to put a big line under Planet, so that our humanity really has a chance to survive worldwide. And maybe we should use our winnings for that!

your chairman,

Peter van Duijn