Cold homes: Our home-made humanitarian disaster 14 February 2013
It feels like a long cold winter, and it's not over yet.
Energy prices rise as temperatures drop
Thanks to our fossil fuel addiction, gas and electricity bills continue to rise. More people are unable to afford to heat their homes properly.
Living in a cold home can cause illness and death, particularly for vulnerable groups:
- Children are twice as likely to suffer from respiratory illnesses.
- Older people are twice as likely to suffer from strokes and heart attacks.
It's estimated that more than 7,000 people die every winter as a result of living in a cold home - that's 60 people a day on average. This is a national disgrace.
An obvious solution
Many of these winter deaths could be avoided if people lived in well-insulated and energy-efficient homes.
Friends of the Earth and the Energy Bill Revolution, a group of over 100 charities and children's organisations, wants money from carbon taxes and trading to be spent on energy efficiency.
We're also co-hosting public meetings on this issue across the UK with local MPs and other speakers.
Why not come along and help us end this tragedy while tackling climate change?
© Jon Challicom/Friends of the Earth
