We are all aware that climate change is one of the most serious risks to our world. Failure to act has serious repercussions, not just for the Earth now and in the future, but also for our communities’ public health. Climate change affects our current health in more ways than we’d want to accept, from rising air pollution to extreme weather occurrences.
Some examples are:
Air pollution: Excessive air pollution can aggravate respiratory issues like asthma and raise the risk of heart disease.
Extreme weather events: As we’ve seen in recent events, heat waves, hurricanes, and other extreme weather events linked to climate change can result in serious injuries, fatalities, and long-term health issues including heat stroke and PTSD.
Food and water insecurity: Rising temperatures and natural catastrophes can frequently cause droughts or water poisoning, affecting food and water sources and resulting in starvation, dehydration, and waterborne infections.
Mental health: Climate change is a difficult subject to address, and seeing its impacts in real time may have a significant influence on our mental health. Many people are now suffering from anxiety, despair, and trauma as a result of it all.
Climate change is a fact that is posing a growing danger to every person on Earth. This knowledge is also resulting in eco-anxiety for many individuals who are acutely aware of the human responsibility to safeguard the environment.
According to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), if carbon emissions are not reduced, three-quarters of the world’s population might face heat stress by 2100. The “heat dome” of 2021 killed about 1,000 people in the United States and Canada. It would have been “nearly impossible” without climate change.
This article is based on EarthX newsletter; edited by Clean-Future Team