Amita Roy

I’m a doctor. I have worked in Melbourne and Darwin in emergency, now I am working as a GP.

Mental health is something we don’t talk about much in connection to climate damage. I’ve seen people whose houses have been destroyed, their livelihoods have been destroyed. I’ve seen people that are so on edge, so anxious, even suicidal because of things like this.

When I was in the emergency department, there was a patient who came in who had attempted suicide. He had lost a partner due to financial issues because of having to rebuild their house after a bushfire. He was on edge because every fire season felt so bad, and it wasn’t like that when he was growing up.

I feel there’s a massive opportunity and need for climate action.

If we acknowledge this and work towards change, then we can help these people that are living in uncertainty and give them hope.

Let’s follow in the footsteps of other nations who are already doing much better than us. Let’s acknowledge climate change is a real problem and lead by example by phasing out burning coal and ramping up renewable energy.

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