How will climate change transform the world we live in?
It is already transforming our world and has been for years to decades, but the thing that we in healthcare are aware of are many different aspects of climate change. With change in climate comes, we see increased heat exposure. We’ve seen a lot of unusually high temperatures in the Pacific Northwest, for example, in the past couple of years. We can no longer look at the news without seeing, almost daily, a climate-related catastrophe. Our number of billion-dollar-plus weather events have increased rapidly, and we’re seeing temperature records being broke on almost a daily basis.
Agricultural failure: We’re going to see the effects of more evaporation, especially over oceans and consequently more water in the atmosphere, and this leads to severe storms and flooding, and much more climate variability than we’re used to. Resulting from all these things together, agricultural failure is highly likely. We’ll see droughts, as we’re seeing particularly across our Southwest with water crises, with wildfires. Drought alone produces agricultural failure. We can see increasing sea levels, which will be very important on coastal areas where there are coastal populations.
Dangerous species displacements: As temperature, precipitation, and length of winter change, we experience expansion of vector populations, particularly of insects and other arthropods. We also see displacements of other species, which for example, might carry a novel virus. One of the things few of us ever think about are the effects of climate change on fungi and, subsequently, an increased likelihood of encountering things that we’re not used to seeing. Covid may well represent such an example.
Flooding events: We’re seeing the 100 and 500- and 1,000-year floods coming. In a typical small community with which I am familiar has now been hit twice in the last five years by 500-year floods. These things have tremendous effects on not only the land, but also the people living on the land, again attributable to climate change.
Severe droughts: The Southwest United States now in the 22nd year of a drought, and this doesn’t even account for all the other regions across the globe that are seeing prolonged droughts, dropping water levels in rivers and in vital reservoirs.
Existential threats: For example, we are witnessing the dramatic rates at which water levels in Lake Mead and Lake Powell have dropped, reminding us of the importance of these reservoirs to a still rapidly growing population in areas that have difficulty sustaining that population and its growth. These problems pose existential threats that are uncomfortably close to home..
Wildfire activity: Along with crop failures has been significant wildfire activity. In Colorado and other western states, increasing wildfires the forest fires are incredibly important.
Global heating effects: We’re seeing the decline of ice sheets, leading to changes across large swaths of the planet, all attributable to global warming and the effect it has on the circulation of oceanic currents.
Expansion of species: We”re witnessing dramatic expansions of vector species like ticks along with displacement of bat populations across Southeast Asia which bring them into more contact with human populations, and we’re seeing extinctions of various species because of this. So, we’re seeing these effects now and we’re going to see them accelerating.
1.Increased risk for respiratory problems, such as allergies, asthma, chronic lung diseases, and lung cancer. Changes in carbon dioxide concentrations, air temperatures, and precipitation can lead to more ozone, pollen, mold spores, fine particles, and chemicals in the air that can irritate and damage the lungs and airways.
2.Increased risk for skin cancer and cataracts. Decreasing ozone in the sky allows more ultraviolet radiation to filter through, which can then lead to skin cancer and cataracts.
- Increased risk for cardiovascular disease and stroke. More extreme temperatures along with poorer air quality and stress from extreme weather events can tax the cardiovascular system. .
- Heat exhaustion or heat stroke. Rising temperatures equal more heat.
- Nutrition problems, such as malnourishment or obesity. Climate change can affect food production by adversely affecting both plants and animals, leading to decreased availability of more natural, healthy foods, such as fruits and vegetables. Climate change can also increase the insect population, prompting the use of more pesticides and chemicals that could then remain on the food. Extreme weather events can lead to contamination of the food supply with toxins, such as lead, mercury, and arsenic. In addition, toxic algal blooms can occur, which can then affect the fish population and, ultimately, you. All of these may lead to increased reliance on highly processed, unhealthy foods.
- Food-borne illnesses. Changes in temperatures, precipitation, and sea levels, as well as extreme weather events, can create conditions ripe for the spread of disease-causing microbes that can then contaminate food.
- Mental health and stress-related issues. Extreme weather events, such as flooding, wildfires, and tornadoes, are not fun, Even small changes in temperature, precipitation, and sea level can disrupt mental stability.
- Diseases from insects. Changes in temperature, rainfall, humidity, and other weather patterns can facilitate the spread, persistence, and biting and sucking behavior of mosquitoes, kissing bugs, ticks, and other insects that can then carry such diseases as malaria, dengue, Lyme disease, and others.
- Other metabolic, endocrine, microbiome, and fertility issues. We only know the tip of the iceberg (which may be melting, by the way) of what climate change may be doing to people’s bodies. For example, research from UCLA suggests that climate change may be affecting fertility.
CONCLUSIONS
Climate change is a human health issue. More scientific research should be encouraged, with less science denial. Do what you can to reduce pollution and carbon emissions. Encourage public policies and regulations that will reduce pollution and global warming.
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