How Does Climate Change Impact Health?

Say what you want about climate change, but there is no denying that the past decade has seen an uptick in unnatural weather patterns and natural disasters. As a result of such patterns, human health has been affected. Climate change, unfortunately, creates new public health challenges, some of which are worse than others.

Rather than turning a blind eye to these effects, the current age poses the opportunity to look more closely into these hazardous events and environmental conditions. With our current technology and advancements, there exist few excuses for ignoring the call to introduce solutions to these negative effects of climate change. Discover a few of these prevalent impacts on health below.

Rising Sea Levels

While the threat of rising sea levels puts people at risk of having their homes and communities wrecked in the future, it also threatens public health. Rising sea levels and heavier precipitation are known to cause more widespread flooding. As a result of such occurrences, the water is exposed to dangerous contaminants. While it might not seem like an issue in developed countries right now, especially as many individuals use water filters, it is a growing concern for less-developed countries. This contaminated water leads to illnesses and infections, negatively impacting those who drink it.

It may seem like a far-off problem at the time, but the United States is expected to see its sea levels rise by an entire foot by the year 2050, which will introduce these health effects to this first-world country.

Heat Waves

Over recent years, many areas of the world have seen record-breaking temperatures. While a warm day may be appreciated in northern regions, many heat-prone locations have had to live through more frequent prolonged heatwaves. These heatwaves create dangerous living conditions, especially for those who have to work outside or do not have access to air conditioning. These intense temperatures have led to many heat-related deaths, and the hotter the Earth becomes, the more frequent these heatwaves will be. Frequent heat waves will lead to recurrent hospitalizations for health issues such as heat exhaustion, dehydration and respiratory problems.

Wildfires

Wildfires have been a prevalent issue in recent years, especially in California and much of the U.S.’s west coast. As these continue to spread as a result of climate change, these communities become at risk for various health issues. The smoke from these wildfires releases particles that lessen air quality. Exposure to this smoke has been known to cause asthma, bronchitis, chest pain and other infections, some of which land people in the hospital even if they were not in close proximity to the actual fire.

Changes in Weather Patterns

Although the changes in weather patterns may seem gradual to humans, there are various other species that have had to adapt to these changes. Fleas, mosquitos and ticks, in particular, have begun to respond to these weather patterns. As a result, this can alter vector-borne diseases and deliver such health issues to nations that were never before met with these concerns. These small-scale weather variations can have significant effects on human health, as these animal hosts can be the cause of widespread disease.

As has been witnessed by numerous healthcare professionals already, hospitals have attended to a wide variety of health complications brought on by weather conditions and natural disasters. It is growing more difficult to deny the impacts that climate change has on health, and as little continues to be done to reverse these ramifications on the environment, it will eventually impact more individuals’ health.

While addressing climate change might feel like a helpless endeavor, it can actually be transformed into an actionable cause. Individuals can donate to serviceable organizations such as Fridays for Future and Climate Justice Alliance, which are fighting for positive environmental action to be taken by government officials.