Climate Change & Human Health

Climate change is a new threat for public health and is changing the way we think about protecting vulnerable populations. We will explain why these changes could affect the populations and which actions we can consider as solutions.

Climate change, in history, is a normal phenomenon, the earth, 15 thousands years ago was in the period of “ice age” it means that the whole world was colder than now and most of the territories were covered by ice. Humans were living in Africa, western Europe or in America. Only some of them were living in the North of Europe where the climate was not very welcoming with temperature around 4 degrees colder than what we know in these regions.

Different threats for human safety

The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirmed that there are evidences that human activity is affecting the climate of the planet and emphasized that this has multiple impacts on the global climate and human health. Climate variability and changes cause death and diseases because of natural disasters, such as heat waves, hurricanes, floods and droughts.

According to studies natural disasters are supposed to increase for the next decades with the rising of the level of oceans, the global warming of our planet, and the deforestation.

Deforestation

The deforestation is a big threat for human safety, because it can lead to a reduction of the share of oxygen in the air, with a bigger part of CO2 and other toxic gases that are emitted by human activities. Trees and plants are responsible of approximately one half of the transformation of oxygen from CO2, with the second half made by oceans. If we continue to cut trees the lack of oxygen would be more and more harmful for human health.

Extreme heat

The process of global warming didn’t start a long time ago, but is nowadays an enormous threat for the safety on humankind. The emissions of greenhouse gases are of such importance and the warming of the planet could exceed 2C° more by 2050. According to scientists these increased heat waves lead to more deaths, mostly for children and older people. It could also be dangerous for people with asthma because during periods of highs temperatures, the concentration of pollen and other aero allergens is bigger and with an estimation of 300 million people affected by asthma this could become a major threat for the next decades.

Public health is being impacted by climate change via many pathways - from alterations in infectious disease transmission to water-source compromise, malnutrition, air pollution, and other factors. This talk includes recent analyses that show how mitigating global warming provides extensive health opportunities, as well as major savings in healthcare costs.

Air quality

Poor air quality and climate change are closely linked. Burning fossil fuels releases both air pollutants and greenhouse gases. Air pollution consists of substances or particles that are dangerous for humans, flora or fauna. The main sources of atmospheric contamination are tropospheric ozone gases (O3), sulfur oxides (SO2 and SO3), nitrogen oxides (NO and NO2), benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) and particulate matter (PM). These gases result mainly from emissions caused by the burning of fossil fuels (including emissions generated by transport), industrial processes, burning of forests, aerosol use, and radiation.

The content of ozone and other pollutants, which increase cardiovascular diseases and respiratory diseases, are also affecting people. The risks of respiratory problems will increase very quickly in few years, according to scientists and with the pollutants in the air in high concentration, new type of diseases can affect the humankind.

Natural disasters

Natural disasters as tsunami or hurricane, for instance, have been tripled, when we compare it to the 80’s. They are also stronger than before and start to appear in regions where people never experienced this phenomenon. They can lead, if the population is not prepared for it, to big epidemic diseases related to contamination by water, air or food. This can also become the reason for a lack of water and food causing famine.

Natural disasters also include the lack of rain which could also lead to famine. This phenomenon would affect regions with a lot of deforestation because trees are source of rain by the process of transformation of the CO2 in oxygen, which is essential for clouds and rain.

Even if you believe climate change is real, you probably still hold a few myths in your head about the impact a changing climate will have on your life. A leading climate scientist helps sort fact from fiction and stresses the importance of adapting to an uncertain future.

Consequences on human health

Human health is a topic which regroup a lot of categories related to different types of diseases. But this is not the only problem, if the ocean rises in the same proportions that scientists predicted, big cities will disappear like Tokyo, Amsterdam or Miami. Rising seas is one of those climate change effects. Average sea levels have swelled over 8 inches (about 23 cm) since 1880, with about three of those inches gained in the last 25 years. Every year, the sea rises another .13 inches (3.2 mm).

In addition to it, many important diseases are highly sensitive to changes in temperatures and precipitation patterns. These are for example, diseases transmitted by animals like mosquitoes, such as malaria or dengue. Another threat is malnutrition and diarrheal diseases, and this phenomenon is expected to increase in the following decades.

Climate change is unfair. While rich countries can fight against rising oceans and dying farm fields, poor people around the world are already having their lives upended - and their human rights threatened - by killer storms, starvation and the loss of their own lands.

Different effects according to geographic situation

The effects of climate on human health will not be felt on the whole planet in the same proportions. Populations in developing countries, including those in small island states, arid or high mountain areas, and densely populated coastal areas are considered particularly vulnerable. On the contrary, the developed countries are more likely to to resist to climate change in term of natural disasters because on one hand they are, for the majority, in tempered regions without risk of disasters, and on a second hand they have already built their systems to resist to climate change. For instance, protections against Tsunamis on the coasts or big water reserves to prevent droughts.

Developed countries have also the advantage of having filters for water. and with it they can avoid certain diseases transmitted by infected water.

We should do everything to preserve our environment and try to stay under the rise of 2C° because otherwise effect on our ecosystem would be immense.

SOLUTIONS

In the future, some of the most important resources will become very rare, resource that are crucial for our survival. We must find solutions to save the earth’s resources and stop polluting it. But we also must protect our environment and reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases.

This means stopping the use of pesticides, GMO’s or chemical products that contaminate the water. We also have to pay attention to our water wastes and water use.

To reach these objectives we can for example reduce our consumption of meat, we could find new transportation solutions or lower our production and consumption of energy. But to attain these goals we need concrete solutions.

In terms of both, policies and individual choices, there are many opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and at the same time achieve positive health outcomes. For example, by promoting cleaner energy sources, public transport, active modes of travel, such as walking or cycling, instead of using private vehicles, carbon dioxide emissions could be reduced. Air pollution causes approximately 7 million deaths per year, of which are 4.3 million due to indoor air pollution.

Education

Raising awareness is the most important part of the environment’s preservation, it provides and disseminates information on the threats that climate change poses to health, and it’s an opportunities to promote health while reducing carbon dioxide emissions. It has to be done, at first, for children, because if we help them to understand how the world works and how we can decrease climate change, it will become an important topic for them. But we also must convince the parents that the preservation of our environment is crucial, if they want their children to grow properly.

To achieve it, the World Health Organizations could create environmental classes in school to make children aware of the changes of their world. And also create partnerships in companies to help them to create a sustainable system of working with the use of renewable energies or recycled paper for example.

Regulation

Governments are also responsible of the greenhouse gases emissions and the pollution of the soils, rivers, oceans. They allow companies to produce more and more even if it goes against the health of our environment. They have to take responsibilities to protect ecosystems and start to refuse certain things to companies if it is not in favor of the environment.

This type of law is quite unusual even is the situation is better than few years ago. For example, a company like MONSANTO is currently selling GMO products to the entire planet, even if we know that GMO’s are dangerous for humans.

Companies have also the right of using chemical products and throw them away when they don’t need it anymore. Even if we know that some chemical products are responsible of cardiorespiratory diseases.

Support transition

Sometimes people are not ready for change, and we have to educate them. But they often are ready even if they don’t really change. This is why the governments should help people and companies to transit from a destructive lifestyle to a more sustainable one.

There can be financial help as well, because companies can’t pay for everything, the state can help to finance projects or give them loans with low interest rate.

As well as for people to install renewable energy devices to become more sustainable.

All these solutions are obviously expensive, but we need to make this change, we are late but nothing is over, we still can create a respectful and sustainable society.

What are the things you implement in order to improve you health? Let us know by tagging us with #theconsciouschallenge

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