Chris Whitty, British epidemiologist, chief medical officer and adviser to the British government since 2019 believes that “air pollution is just as dangerous” than the coronavirus. Statements by Chris Witty, who played a key role in implementing containment as part of the management of the Covid-19 epidemic alongside the government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, raise fears due to the standardization of policies to combat the virus and global warming on the grounds of protecting public health.
During the presentation of his annual report on public health, published on December 8, Chris Whitty, said at a press conference that the population should be “urge to action” pour “change behavior” a step “important to achieve greater progress on air pollution”. “You don’t choose the air you breathe when you go outside, when you walk down the street, when you enter buildings or when you leave them. So it is very important that the government takes this issue seriously and it ‘did”underlined the chief medical officer.
“Have the courage to say: don’t do this”
In his document, he did not go out of his way, seeking the mobilization of the population alongside the government to make known the actions to be adopted as part of this approach to combating CO2 emissions. “I think we should make it very clear to people that their behaviors can cause significant problems, potentially for vulnerable people. I think almost every parent sees someone whose car is idling in front of their kids’ school as incredibly antisocial.he said, believing that the “People should have the courage to say, ‘Please don’t do this’”.
In his report, Chris Whitty goes on to point out that the air quality has “significantly improved” since the 1980s. In February 2022, in London, during the Clean Air Summit, he had already welcomed the “Clean Air Act” of 1956, which “solved the problem with great success”. However, air pollution still causes, according to him, “between 26,000 and 38,000 deaths per year” et “many people suffer from preventable chronic diseases because of it”. In February, he cited the “risks of strokes, heart attacks, cancers and other illnesses”.
The chief medical officer therefore believes that “vast changes” must be brought to household energy consumption habits. “Behavioral change will be important to achieve greater progress on air pollution (…) Ultimately, societal factors may be the most important driver of this change”he wrote.
He suggests reducing the use of wood stoves, the use of electric cars or the possibility for farmers to use slurry to prevent the spread of ammonia in the air.
In the United Kingdom, an organization responsible for informing opinion on public policy has been asked to identify methods inspired by behavioral sciences which would make it possible to encourage the population to comply with the government’s policy on of ecology. The Behavioral Insights Team, also called “Nudge Unit”, is based on the economic and political theory of the “nudge” which aims to influence populations so that they make decisions in the direction desired by the government. .
Covid and climate change, same modus operandi
The proposal by Chris Whitty, of “to push” la population “in action” to make him change his behavior in terms of energy consumption, raises many questions and fears. Many see in the expansion of his powers as chief medical officer towards environmental issues, presented as health problems, a standardization of crisis management policies linked to covid and climate change.
Last year, Clair Fox, then a member of the House of Lords, warned against such manipulation. In an interview with Breitbart Londonshe said: “You can expect to see a whole host of issues disguised as public health concerns and I’ve even noticed that climate change has been framed as a public health risk rather than a matter of green ideology.”
This approach, in his opinion, is aimed in particular at giving the government more power. “If a government realizes that when public health is deployed like a specter to scare people, then in fact it can amass a lot of power without too much opposition.”
“Trial period”
Designs more and more confirmed. Last year, experts claimed that “the Covid-19 pandemic” was not “just a trial period”. Countries should use “The Hard Lessons” learned during this pandemic “to deal with another major global crisis: climate change”.
Filmed without his knowledge last year by a journalist from the American media “Project Veritas”, Charlie Chester, technical director at CNN, affirmed that the “next epidemic will be global warming”.
He thus revealed that the project of the senior managers of the group was to “a spotlight” on the matter, in order to “surfing on covid-related fatigue”. “Like every time a new story comes in, they’re going to hang on to it… Our next mission is going to be climate change awareness… Something like constantly showing videos about temperature decline, global warming climate and the effects on the economy… But this story has longevity. It will take years”did he declare.
The fears of some Western populations relate to the risk of seeing the fight against global warming gradually transform into policies aimed at restricting individual freedoms, on the same model as the measures adopted during the health crisis: around the world, we are already seeing various initiatives consisting in limiting the carbon quota of citizens.