Climate Change Becomes a Threat to Human Health

How does climate change affect health

Extreme temperatures

Climate change affects everything from the social and environmental aspects of health such as clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food, and secure shelter.

“Climate change has introduced unprecedented rates of change for anything that we’ve been able to measure or recreate,” says LeRoy Westerling, Professor of Management of Complex Systems and Co-Director of the Center for Climate Communication at UC-Merced.

“You have two dials: one controls how much precipitation is going in, and that’s getting more variable and maybe slightly increasing over time on average,” Westerling explains. “And the other is the temperature, and that’s mostly going in one direction—it’s getting warmer—and that’s increasing the evaporation coming out.”

Extreme heat can generate dehydration, stroke, cardiovascular, respiratory, and cerebrovascular conditions, particularly among older people. Moreover, populations in northern areas are the most susceptible to be affected by extreme temperature, because they aren’t used to it and are not prepared for it.

“We’re seeing Northern California, as it dries out, is acting more like Southern California. It’s becoming more and more common here that we’re having fire weather,” explains Bill Stewart, Co-Director of the UC Berkeley Center for Forestry and Center for Fire Research and Outreach. “It seems like we’re living in a county that’s one or two counties south every decade in terms of fire behavior.”

Urban areas are usually more problematic, as they’re considered to be warmer than rural surroundings. For example, in extreme temperatures and heatwaves, large metropolitan areas like Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis and Cincinnati have recorded increases in death rates, compared to smaller towns and rural areas. Moreover, heat waves are usually followed by periods of stagnant air, which leads to more air pollution and the correlated health effects.

Additionally, extreme temperatures contribute to respiratory illnesses, as it raises the levels of ozone and other pollutants in the air. Moreover, it is also responsible for the higher levels of pollen and other aeroallergens, which affects around 300 million people, especially dangerous for those who have asthma.

“The risks of mental health problems, especially depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, after a catastrophic event are also high and often not discussed as much,” she says, continuing that it is expected an increase in suicide and anxiety disorders as long as the effect of climate change continues to worsen.

“Our current mental health system is woefully underprepared to deal with the scale and intensity of problems climate change is expected to bring.”