4 Graphics With The Lowdown On Climate Change and Human Health

The Impact Of Climate Change On Public Health, In Four Infographics April 11, 2016 (Clean Technica) “…The White House Climate and Health Assessment connects the dots between climate change and its consequences for American public health more clearly than ever before…[The product of three years of research by 13 federal agencies shows] climate change will continue to exacerbate existing threats to health as well as give rise to new ones…

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“1. Climate change is expected to cause more frequent and intense extreme weather events…Extreme weather events – like floods, wildfires, and drought – can be terrifying…but they can also lead to food and waterborne illnesses after the fact…The report is also one of the first of its kind to study how climate change impacts mental health, noting that people ‘exposed to climate- or weather-related natural disasters experience stress reactions and serious mental health consequences, including symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depressions, and general anxiety’…

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“2. Climate change and air pollution can aggravate asthma and allergies…[Fossil fuel-driven climate change indirectly affects] the quality of our air…[H]igher levels of air pollution like ground-level ozone that can ‘cause premature deaths, hospital visits, lost school days, and acute respiratory symptoms’…[More wildfires releasing more particles into the air raises] the threat of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases…[and] warming temperatures and rising levels of carbon pollution are expected to lead to higher levels of the allergens that contribute to asthma and other illnesses…

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“3. Climate change can help spread a whole host of vector-borne diseases…[They] are illnesses spread by insects or arachnids (the vectors) like mosquitoes, fleas, mites, or ticks…[Rising temperatures will change] precipitation patterns, and a higher frequency of some extreme weather events associated with climate change…[will allow] some vectors like the mosquitos that carry the West Nile virus…to range further north and have a longer breeding season…[increasing the] probability of Americans contracting this and other illnesses…

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“4. Climate change will cause rising temperatures, potentially leading to 150,000 deaths in the US by 2100…[S]cientists expect intense heat waves to happen more frequently, leading to more and more premature deaths…[It will likely hit] children, the elderly, and low-income communities the hardest…The bottom line? Healthy people need a healthy planet…Climate change poses an immediate and serious threat to human health not just in the United States, but around the globe. The good news is that how we respond to this threat – and how healthy a world we live in – is up to us...” click here for more

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