The Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health came out with an extensive report on March 15th on the fact that "climate change is harming our health." This report even shows a map to illustrate how one's health is harmed by a particular region of the United States. Here in the northeast we are oh so lucky to only have five things affect us rather than six (too bad we're really not lucky since pretty much every region has at least five expect for the northwest, Alaska, and Hawaii. Oh well).
What affects us is extreme temperature, air pollution, extreme events such as flooding, hurricanes, and storms, tick-borne infections, and mental health and wellbeing. An article in USA Today said that "scientists have warned for years of the potential impacts of climate change on human health," meaning that there have been health concerns from climate change for years. The fossil fuels that are released into the air do not only have an effect on the environment but also us living on this Earth.
The extreme heat can cause heat-related illness and death from heat stroke and dehydration. The Summer where I live in New York used to be bearable when I was younger; I didn't mind sitting outside for long periods of time relaxing. Now, the heat is one of the absolute worst parts of the Summer. By the time July rolled around, New York had only gone under 80 degrees, during the day, once. The average temperature in July of 2014 for New York was 76 degrees and had an average low of 68 degrees compared to the average of 79 degrees and an average low of 71 for July of 2016. That is a crazy increase to have within just two years and can really impact people's health; as stated by the World Health Organization, "an increase in future heat-related mortality is seen as one of the most likely impacts of future anthropogenic climate change." This Summer when you say "this heat is killing me" or "it's so hot, I might die" (I know I say this a lot when it's hot out), those small comments can actually be a real health problem.
Obviously, the extreme temperature isn't the only thing to affect people, as previously stated, it just happens to be the most well-known effect of climate change. I mean, it is called global warming for a reason. Everything else can be summed up pretty easily compared to the long explanation for extreme temperature.
Air pollution can affect anybody, but it mainly harms people with preexisting respiratory conditions such as asthma and chronic lung diseases. Air pollution is pretty self-explanatory, the air quality is terrible and is slowly affecting everybody's health. Extreme events can injury people and even kill them if the event is bad enough; between the years 1980 and 2000, there was an estimated 250,000 deaths from floods associated with cyclones and storm surges. Tick-borne infections come from more and more ticks carrying Lyme Disease. This disease can only be transmitted through Ixodes ticks, or deer ticks; they have been more and more common in the north and east part of the United States over the past few years.
The last thing that affects us in the northeast is mental health and wellbeing. I'm sure at this point in your life you've heard the term seasonal depression at least once; this basically means that the wintertime months can cause people to become more depressed in the colder months of the year. Since it gets darker earlier in the winter, as well, the lack of light tends to add to the depression people may have during these months of time. The extreme weather events can also severely stress a person out and can lead to consequences such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and an increase in suicidal thoughts or behaviors. Extreme weather can have a serious effect on mental strain since the events can be so traumatic to the person experiencing it.
If you didn't think climate change could get any worse for us... well, here's your proof. People have known for years that global warming has been affecting our health, but this extensive report really illustrated how terrible it is to us. I get sick all the time, but after this I really have to sit back and think to myself, "am I still sick just because that's how my body is, or is it the fact that the air I'm breathing in is keeping me sick?"
The extreme heat can cause heat-related illness and death from heat stroke and dehydration. The Summer where I live in New York used to be bearable when I was younger; I didn't mind sitting outside for long periods of time relaxing. Now, the heat is one of the absolute worst parts of the Summer. By the time July rolled around, New York had only gone under 80 degrees, during the day, once. The average temperature in July of 2014 for New York was 76 degrees and had an average low of 68 degrees compared to the average of 79 degrees and an average low of 71 for July of 2016. That is a crazy increase to have within just two years and can really impact people's health; as stated by the World Health Organization, "an increase in future heat-related mortality is seen as one of the most likely impacts of future anthropogenic climate change." This Summer when you say "this heat is killing me" or "it's so hot, I might die" (I know I say this a lot when it's hot out), those small comments can actually be a real health problem.
Obviously, the extreme temperature isn't the only thing to affect people, as previously stated, it just happens to be the most well-known effect of climate change. I mean, it is called global warming for a reason. Everything else can be summed up pretty easily compared to the long explanation for extreme temperature.
Air pollution can affect anybody, but it mainly harms people with preexisting respiratory conditions such as asthma and chronic lung diseases. Air pollution is pretty self-explanatory, the air quality is terrible and is slowly affecting everybody's health. Extreme events can injury people and even kill them if the event is bad enough; between the years 1980 and 2000, there was an estimated 250,000 deaths from floods associated with cyclones and storm surges. Tick-borne infections come from more and more ticks carrying Lyme Disease. This disease can only be transmitted through Ixodes ticks, or deer ticks; they have been more and more common in the north and east part of the United States over the past few years.
The last thing that affects us in the northeast is mental health and wellbeing. I'm sure at this point in your life you've heard the term seasonal depression at least once; this basically means that the wintertime months can cause people to become more depressed in the colder months of the year. Since it gets darker earlier in the winter, as well, the lack of light tends to add to the depression people may have during these months of time. The extreme weather events can also severely stress a person out and can lead to consequences such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and an increase in suicidal thoughts or behaviors. Extreme weather can have a serious effect on mental strain since the events can be so traumatic to the person experiencing it.
If you didn't think climate change could get any worse for us... well, here's your proof. People have known for years that global warming has been affecting our health, but this extensive report really illustrated how terrible it is to us. I get sick all the time, but after this I really have to sit back and think to myself, "am I still sick just because that's how my body is, or is it the fact that the air I'm breathing in is keeping me sick?"
I'm constantly getting sick here at PSU so maybe the new environment is contributing as much as the existing one! Great post!
ReplyDeleteI actually get grossed out whenever I walk into my hall because everyone is sick. I can easily see how climate change could be causing some of these illnesses, especially with all the coughing that has been going on. You did a great job describing all the different ways that climate change could affect our health.
ReplyDeleteI loved how you associated global warming weather and how you keep getting sick weather. I actually did not know that we can get sick from global warming, I think that is so incredibly interesting! Great post!
ReplyDeleteIt seems that there is no end to the amount of bad things that come with global warming. I had never thought much about the health problems that come with global warming, but they make so much sense now. I found your post super interesting and plan to try and stay as far away from the sick people as possible!
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