Most people now know that climate change will cause shrinking glaciers, rising sea levels, and severe threats to endangered animal species worldwide, but many fail to realize the disastrous effects it will have on public health, too. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), scientists have forecasted that the globe’s temperature will rise 2.5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit over the next century. A changing climate will have a critical impact on the well-being of our world’s inhabitants, especially children, the elderly, the poor, and those already suffering from chronic health conditions. Not only will global warming make some existing health concerns worse, but it will also foster the development of new pathogens and problems. Below we’ve created a broad overview on the most significant ways a warmer climate will affect public health.
Increasing Heat Waves
Excessive heat is traditionally linked to a number of deaths each year from heat stroke, severe dehydration, and heat syncope. Although heat-related illnesses are more common among adults over age 65, young and otherwise healthy adults or children can fall victim, too. A changing climate will likely lead to more frequent and severe heat waves in summer, thus increasing the risk. Since people are migrating more to urban areas, the warmer temperatures in cities are projected to triple heat-related deaths annually.
More Extreme Weather
Global warming is expected to indirectly threaten human health by causing changing precipitation patterns and sparking more extreme weather. Around the globe, the severity of tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, and other storms is rising, which places people at risk for harm. Extreme weather events can interrupt healthcare services, lead to cases of carbon monoxide poisoning from generators, and limit the availability of clean water. Some experts believe extreme weather will increase mental health concerns like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for those in its pathway.
Deteriorating Air Quality
It’s estimated that over 126 million Americans already live in cities that don’t meet our nation’s air quality standards. Warmer temperatures from climate change will likely make days with unhealthy levels of air pollutants and smog even more numerous. Warmer air tends to become more dormant with carbon monoxide and nitrogen to create high levels of ground-level ozone. This will have a large impact on human health because contaminants breathed in can increase risk for asthma, respiratory infections, and other lung diseases. Those with allergies may also suffer as warm temperatures cause more ragweed pollen production.
Faster Spread of Disease
As you probably know, higher temperatures cause a moist environment in which certain diseases thrive and become easily spread. For instance, food-borne diseases like salmonella are caused by bacteria that grow more rapidly in a warm environment. Increased precipitation from global warming could result in heavy flooding that contaminates water supplies with potentially dangerous water-borne parasites. Higher temperatures will help populations of ticks and mosquitoes expand further, which will raise the risk for animal-borne diseases, too.
While all of these global warming effects sound harrowing, it’s important to note that there’s ways to mitigate the human costs of our warming world through swift actions. Luckily, the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) has reported that more than 30 states nationwide have produced climate change action plans to help protect citizens’ well-being. If you’re interested in a public health career, you could also work towards creating climate policies that can address heat-related concerns posed to vulnerable populations around the globe.