“Cancer didn’t bring me to my knees, it brought me to my feet.”
Michael Douglas
Do you know someone who is battling cancer? I would be surprised if you don’t. It may even be you. So what could cancer and the climate possibly have in common?
I worked in the cancer drug industry for many years, and have watched the astounding progression of improvements in patients’ lives. Because of scientific advancements, there is so much to be hopeful for.
Catching cancer early is considered good news – well, as good as any news about cancer can be – because early-stage cancer can often be cured. Depending on the type of cancer, the patient might have surgery to remove the tumor, and possibly get chemotherapy and/or radiation to prevent it from coming back.
Patients follow the advice of the experts, aka their doctors. The idea is to take action as early as possible to stop the cancer from spreading and becoming incurable.
Treating early has other benefits too. It also reduces long-term costs to both the patient and the healthcare system.
Do you see where this is going?
We have been diagnosed with early-stage climate change, in the sense that it is still curable. The average temperature of the earth has been rising for several years, and now and we are starting to see symptoms (increasingly frequent and destructive weather events). There are certain tipping points on the horizon, meaning if we reach them, we can’t turn back. But it’s not too late.
We know what the available treatments are, it makes financial sense to implement them, and the cure is still within reach. So why wait? As they say in the cancer world, let’s go for the cure.
Let’s do something about climate change. Learn about it. Think about it. Talk about it.