The best research method–of course–but also philosophy, ethics, global heating and health: What more could we want? This article, below, discusses all that and more. And, by the way, the lead author happens to be my son, Toby Cumming.
Here’s the abstract:
Rapid global warming is triggering a wide range of changes to the climate, and these changes are compromising many aspects of human health and well-being. As a research community, we lack the time and resources to investigate the efficacy of every possible climate adaptation strategy for protecting health. Thus, we require a logical and ethical framework to inform prioritization of our climate-health research efforts. In this paper, we propose a utilitarian approach: our research focus should be on adaptation strategies that provide the greatest health and well-being for the greatest number. The disability-adjusted life year (DALY) – equal to one year of healthy life lost – allows us to compare across markedly different health outcomes and adaptation approaches. Given the importance of cost-effectiveness in resource-constrained settings, we could prioritize adaptation approaches based on “cost per DALY averted”. Equally, we could base a priority ranking on “cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained”. A DALY- or QALY-based ranking would not be the end product, but a quantifiable first step to frame prioritization discussions. Adopting a utilitarian approach is useful in extending this frame beyond considering only the health of current-day humans to also consider the health of future humans and the suffering of non-human animals. While the approach does have limits – to ensure an equitable prioritization we need to consider aspects of fairness and justice, moral concepts that utilitarianism has some difficulty incorporating – we argue that it provides a helpful starting point in prioritizing the climate-health adaptation research agenda.
Finally
My congratulations to Toby and co-authors. For Toby, I happen to know this article draws heavily on his theoretical essay written, way back, as part of his Honours year in Psychology at La Trobe University. It was his outstanding performance in that year that took him to Cambridge for a PhD–and a wonderful three years of playing golf at the best courses up and down the British Isles. His PhD supervisor’s initial suggestion for his thesis title was “What I did when I wasn’t playing golf”. His recent passion project has been this book about the Australian golf courses designed in the 1950s and ’60s by Vern Morcom.
Whether you have a taste for climate change and health, or golf, please enjoy!
Geoff