Coal is making us sick Cathy – via 350.org

This email is being sent to you on behalf of Newcastle nurse Cathy, via 350.org Australia. Your details have not been shared with anyone.

Dear Neville,

My name is Cathy. For the past thirty years, I have worked as a registered nurse in Newcastle, home to the world’s largest coal port.

Newcastle is the final destination for coal trains in the Hunter Valley. In fact, each year 22,000 trains with four million coal wagons travel through my home city. Four million coal wagons, each without any form of covering, constantly exposing our suburbs to harmful levels of coal dust — coal dust that is needlessly undermining the health of Newcastle and Hunter communities.

HESTA, Australia’s largest health industry super fund, invests in coal and its harmful impacts. Join me in calling on HESTA to divest for our health.

Coal dust is comprised of fine, rigid particles. When inhaled, these particles are breathed down into the lower regions of the lung, lodging themselves in the lining of blood vessels. This can lead to lung disorders in the short term, and heart disorders or cancer in years to come.

In Newcastle, we are constantly fighting back coal dust. We’ve done monitoring to show that coal dust frequently exceeds the benchmark for healthy air. But this evidence is repeatedly shrugged off by the coal industry and our government refuses to pull them into line.

But there is one group whose actions coal companies do care about – and that’s their investors.

HESTA invests in coal, and by investing in coal they are supporting an industry responsible for undermining the health of my community. HESTA has already divested from tobacco because of its health impacts. Now it’s time for HESTA to do the same for coal.

Whether you’re a HESTA member or not, join me in asking HESTA to help us combat these harmful impacts by divesting from fossil fuels.

When coal’s impacts are combined with the health impacts of climate change, it becomes clear that the situation is even worse. The most respected medical journal in the world, The Lancet, recently reported that climate change could undo the last half century of heath development work.[1] That’s 50 years of tireless work to protect the wellbeing of communities around the world – thrown away.

And beyond Newcastle, communities across Australia are battling the health impacts of unconventional gas drilling – often known as ‘fracking’. Waste contaminates from the drilling process frequently leak into interconnected water ways, travelling long distances, before making their way into sources of drinking water.

As Australia’s largest health super fund, HESTA has the power to decide how much coal dust ends up in our suburbs, contaminates in our water, and pollution in our air. It’s time for HESTA to invest in our health, by divesting from fossil fuels.

Click here to support the health of my community by asking HESTA to divest.

Yours for a healthier planet and healthier communities,

Cathy

[1] Climate change threatens 50 years of progress in global health, study says, The Guardian, 23 June 2015.

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