Is Global Warming Making Us Sick

Is Global Warming Making Us Sick Photo Via: http://static1.squarespace.com Global warming an issue that many still choose to ignore and that others aren’t sure how to deal with is largely human-made, and according to a new federal government report, it’s making Americans sick and seems to be progressively getting worse. On April 4, a report (332 pages in total) was issued by the Obama administration that claimed global warming will “make the air dirtier, water more contaminated and food more tainted,” according to NBC news. This report also warned Americans of numerous diseases, including those spread by ticks and mosquitoes. It also warned of longer allergy seasons and heat wave deaths in the thousands. The Environmental Protection Agency chief, Gina McCarthy, also warns that these climate changes can also affect people’s mental health. As she said at the White House event in which the report was unveiled, “It’s not just about polar bears and melting ice caps. It’s about our families. It’s about our future.” The Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, agrees, claiming climate change affects people in many more ways than doctors may have initially thought (based on past circumstances). He claimed the report would allow doctors to quantify, “the sheer number of pathways through which climate affects health.” Murthy continued on the dangers of global warming in saying, “Not being able to breathe is one of the most frightening experiences. We’re talking about scary moments for parents and children.” Air pollution will be worsened by power plants, pollen and wildfires, which will likely lead to the above mentioned breathing problems. Asthma, the number one cause of hospitalized children, will worsen due to heat, allergens and air pollution according to Lynn Goldman, dean of George Washington University’s public health school. The heat will also lead to other problems according to White House science adviser, John Holdren. Holdren highlighted heat waves and said that even with a reduction in emissions of heat-trapping gases on a global scale, there will be thousands to tens of thousands of heat-related deaths in the summer in the U.S. annually. Computer simulations projected by the centers of disease control and prevention forsaw extra summer heat deaths in 209 cities. These deaths will be outweighed by fewer winter cold deaths from the same climate change according to the CDC’s Shubhayu Saha, the lead author on a study. The science adviser, Holdren, said this report is based on over 1,800 published, scientific studies and new federal research. He also said the report was reviewed by the National Academies of Sciences, making it a very reliable, accurate accumulation of the data. Howard Frumkin, dean of the University of Washington’s public health school, was not a part of the report, but supports its data. In a statement about the report, he said, “the report clearly establishes that climate change is a major threat to public health in the United States. There is a vast disconnect between the magnitude of the problem, as outlined by this report, and the response of government health agencies,” he said. According to Frumkin, the government hasn’t been doing nearly enough. So while the data is accurate, and the threat is real, our capability of protecting ourselves from it, from actually reversing the outcome and fixing the problem, is slim for the time being. For now, the best we can do is to remain educated as to what’s going on in our environment and do our part to “go green,” to the best of our abilities. This means using less water when we brush our teeth or take showers, carpooling whenever possible, and avoiding use of plastic water bottles etc. While the contributions are certainly small at best, they’re also helping to lessen the dangerous outcomes later on. If global warming is indeed making Americans sick, it only makes sense to do our part to avoid this problem in the future.