Walking on a Landfill? Highly recommend!

This afternoon, I had a fantastic opportunity to join with my colleagues on Plant Based Doctors and Irish Doctors for the Environment to have a tour of Rogerstown Park (former Balleally Landfiil).

The hillwalk walk up to the top is simply stunning, and the views over the estuary are impressive.   However, I had to remind myself:  these views shouldn’t be.  I’m standing on a 40 metre, 12.5million ton pile of trash. The work being done there is amazing, and the park, even in this early phase, is beautiful.  We brought children along with us, so I’m not sure we saw as much wildlife as we would have otherwise, but we still saw hares and buzzards.  And the skylarks were definitely in full song!

That sounds like a nice day out, you say… but why do doctors care about the environment?

Simply put, environment is an important health determinant.  From the air you breathe to the roads you drive on, environmental factors impact your health.  Some of them are very obvious, such as air pollution or water quality.  Pollutions, including carcinogens, can contaminate food sources  Some are less obvious:  unsafe infrastructure leads to higher number of accidents when traveling. Doctors are also concerned when patients don’t have access to safe, clean spaces for outdoor physical activity and socialising for both physical and mental health. Globally, loss of biodiversity is also a risk factor for increased vector-borne and zoonotic diseases.