Global warming constitutes one component of climate change, but it results in many devastating effects. While it leads to rising ocean levels and unpredictable weather, it also facilitates the spread of illness. Many tropical diseases like yellow fever and malaria – which were once confined to South American and African countries – can now be found in the United States due to their status as vector-borne diseases. These illnesses are transmitted by mosquitoes, who require warm water to lay their eggs in and reproduce. As the planet warms, they have the capacity to breed in more areas, which leads to a greater geographic range where the diseases they carry exist.
While we may not see malaria outbreaks in the U.S. right now, we will most likely see the incidence of heat-related illnesses rise once summer rolls around. Rising temperatures also impact existing health conditions and harm healthy individuals. The issues heat poses on our health may affect us more than we think, considering how the incidence of heat exhaustion is expected to increase with temperatures. As an example for how conditions may be aggravated, asthma is one to look at, considering its prevalence. According to the AAFA, 25 million individuals have asthma in the United States, which is around 1 in 13 people. Asthma is known to worsen with heat because air pollution – specifically with pollutants such as ozone – increases with hotter temperatures. Ozone at high levels has been known to impact even healthy lungs, making it an issue everyone should be concerned about. It’s evident that climate change will impact humanity in a multitude of ways. Many people and organizations recognize the need for change, yet nothing is being done at the level where it matters. An individual can only make so much of a difference on the global climate. Next to zero progress has been made on phasing out fossil fuels, one of the biggest contributors to climate change. The same language on the issue at COP 27 – an international climate conference – appeared to be recycled from COP 26, according to Jeni Miller, who serves as the executive director of the Global Climate and Health Alliance. The lack of progress on the matter is shocking, considering how high the stakes are. With higher temperatures being recorded each year, action needs to be taken fast to save our planet and health. Pressure should be placed on government officials and corporations to put the people first, because we’ll all go down together if we don’t save the planet. Comments are closed.
|