Climate Change and Health Risks

Climate change isn’t just bad for the planet’s health—it’s bad for people too. Effects will vary by age,
gender, geography, and socioeconomic status—and so will remedies. A recent international study in
the Lancet says that many more people will be exposed to extreme weather events over the next century
than previously thought—“a potentially catastrophic risk to human health” that could undo 50 years of
global health gains.

Solutions are in the works. In flood-prone Benin, national health insurance has been expanded to cover
diseases likeliest to increase as the world warms and sea levels rise. In the steamy Philippines, programs
are helping low-income residents manage weather-related risks with loans, hygiene education, and waste
and water control. Meanwhile public health experts everywhere are calling for new measures to help
people stay healthy despite floods, droughts, and heat waves.

1. Power outages in extreme weather could cripple hospitals and transportation systems when we need them
most.

2. Crop declines could lead to undernutrition, hunger, and higher food prices. More CO2 in the air could
make staple crops like barley and soy less nutritious.

3. Occupational hazards such as risk of heatstroke will rise, especially among farmers and construction
workers. Labor could shift to dawn and dusk, times when more disease-carrying insects are out.

4. Hotter days, more rain, and higher humidity will produce more ticks, which spread infectious
diseases like Lyme disease. Ticks could be in much of the eastern U.S. by 2080.

5. Trauma from floods, droughts, and heat waves can lead to mental health issues like anxiety, depression,
and suicide.

Misconceptions about climate change

1. Isn’t this just a normal fluctuation in earth’s temperature?

2. There’s nothing we can do about it anyway.
3. It would hurt our economic interests too much to do anything about climate change.
4. it’s not going to be a problem for a long time, so why worry now?
5. It wouldn’t be so bad to have warmer temperatures!
6. The weather seems normal today!
7. The hole in the ozone layer causes climate change.
8. Scientists still disagree about whether climate change is really happening.
9. it’s not our fault!