The continuous change in climate means more health risks, including, but not limited to, longer allergy seasons, increase in air and water pollution, insect-transmitted diseases, and even deaths from extreme heat.
A more-than-300-page new report from the Obama administration stated that the global warming in the coming decades would mean that the populace would suffer more health problems. The report, according to the Washington Post, is several years in the making and describes the direct effects of climate change and global warming, including "potential for worsening air quality to trigger thousands more premature deaths from respiratory problems or an uptick in annual deaths from crushing heat waves." Researchers also said that other effects of the changing climate include mental health problems.
"This isn't just about glaciers and polar bears. It's about the health of our family and our kids," Gina McCarthy, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said Monday. "To protect ourselves and future generations, we need to understand the health impacts of climate change that are already happening, and those that we expect to see down the road."
On the other hand, a report authored by 45 individuals from Europe and China and published by the medical journal, the Lancet's Commission on Health and Climate Change, stated that "climate change could pose a major health risk to the planet's human population over the course of the 21st century."
"The implications of climate change for a global population of 9 billion people threatens to undermine the last half century of gains in development and global health.... future projections represent an unacceptably high and potentially catastrophic risk to human health," the new report stated.
However, acting on the problem now could have immense positive outcome, especially on the health of the people all over the world. "Tackling climate change could be the greatest global health opportunity of this century," it further states.
