How Climate Change Affects Us

written on 10.30.2022

Are we aware that climate change can affect our health significantly? An increase in natural disasters can also lead to people’s deaths. The planet warming up could also mean more heatwaves and those who don’t have a proper way of dealing with the heat may end up getting heat exhaustion. The oceans and air are polluted due to climate change which leads to a poorer quality of life. The majority of what is causing this issue is carbon emissions. There has also been an increase in people dying because of the abnormally hot and cold temperatures that have been happening. Global warming increasing in severity would affect people’s health and daily life.

An increase in temperatures could give people more of a chance of heat exhaustion which can ultimately lead to death. Heat exhaustion can lead to a heat stroke which can be life-threatening and would require immediate medical attention since it would damage your vital organs and give permanent damage to the brain. It can even worsen chronic health conditions for those who may have it. Not everyone in the world has access to air conditioning too. World leaders have tried limiting the temperatures to warming up to 2.7 Fahrenheit degrees to prevent a lot of problems stacking in the 2015 Paris climate agreement. There was a type of heatwave “that used to happen only once every 50 years now happens once a decade” (Borenstein) and if the planet were to have a 1.8-degree Fahrenheit increase then the heatwave would occur twice every 7 years. There have also been heated advisories and excessive heat warnings in effect this June 2022 on the eastern side of the United States.

If this keeps on going then “the hottest heat wave many people have ever experienced will simply be their new summertime norm” (Raymond). “Central and western North America, already witnessing more deadly wildfires, will see more blazes and drought as well as more extreme precipitation and flooding” (Schonhardt). In addition, extremes of climate change accelerate the possibilities of “cardiac disease, brain stroke and respiratory diseases like Allergic bronchitis, Allergic Rhinitis, acute exacerbation of Bronchial Asthma, and also water and food-borne diseases like Viral Hepatitis ( Hepatitis A and Hepatitis E), Enteric Fever, Infectious gastroenteritis” (Panda). In East Africa, there have been studies on the heat effects on pregnant women and newborns in Kilifi County. In their communities women are the ones getting water for their families “which can mean walking long hours in the sun, even while pregnant. Studies have linked heat exposure to preterm births and underweight babies” (Raymond). The increase in higher temperatures in the world would lead to more health risks for humans.

Climate change can lead to an increase in floods around the world. In July 2021, specifically in China and Western Europe received “the amount of rain that might typically fall over several months to a year came down within a matter of days” (Calma) causing floods that could wipe houses off of their foundations. It could also affect transportation such as a flood happening in New York City where a subway station was flooded which was made unusable. In Puerto Rico, in September 2022, there was a strong hurricane called Fiona which was categorized as a Category 4 storm in which there was a water shortage, electricity was limited, and functional telecommunications were quite restricted. Climate change can supercharge storms and make them stronger which can cause even greater floods for people to deal with. These calamities occurring in such intensity and possibly more can not only cause immediate devastation but also long-term health problems. Only 41% of Puerto Ricans had access to their water service, 27% had access to their electricity service, and only 71% had functional telecommunications antennas. People would struggle to obtain “clean water and provide for their sanitary needs, and diseases that flourish in fetid conditions will break out” (Rozsa). Moreover, the damage of floods can cause injuries, drownings, and waterborne diseases. Climate Change has caused floods to be stronger.

On the other hand, climate change may not be as bad as everyone thinks it is. There have been multiple studies that people are the ones responsible for carbon emissions when in fact that may be false. “The overwhelming majority (97%) of carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere comes from nature, not from man” (Contoski). Volcanoes, swamps, rice paddies, fallen leaves, and even insects and bacteria create carbon dioxide in the air. Man-made emissions of carbon dioxide weren’t essential before worldwide industrialization began in the 1940s. Since then, carbon dioxide emissions have been increasing. Studies have stated, “carbon dioxide comprises only 0.035% of our atmosphere and is a very weak greenhouse gas” (Contoski). Heatwaves and floods are a natural part of the Earth, it has been happening once in a while, and people should not be surprised when it occurs. Global warming is just a natural process that the planet is going through.

However, climate change is the reason that the pollen season is getting longer. According to the news, “the combination of warming air and higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has caused North American pollen seasons since 1990 to start some 20 days earlier, on average, and to have 21 percent more pollen” (Schwartz). Scientists have stated that pollen seasons are getting longer and more intense. This can be dangerous for those who have asthma or other respiratory conditions. “Studies have shown that students do less well in school during peak pollen season, and high-pollen periods have been associated with greater susceptibility to respiratory viruses” (Schwartz). A higher and intensifying pollen season means those who have asthma have a higher risk of hospitalization. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the United States, there are 24.8 million people with asthma, and 19 million adults reported having hay fever in the past year of 2021. In the same period, 7 million children had respiratory allergies. A scientist who has personal allergy issues has stated that he has to “be on allergy medication eight months of the year” (Schwartz) and that there are still times when he is still in misery during the high pollen season. Global warming is one of the main factors in why the pollen season accelerates more.

In conclusion, climate change can affect the general public’s health for multiple reasons. The changes caused by it can affect the food and water we consume, the air we breathe, and the weather we experience. It is not too late to make a change on our planet. It may not have to be changing our lifestyles in order to fight for our planet. That way, less people can suffer from such dilemmas. Public health can be generally affected because of climate change for many different factors.