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Environmental Health Problems Likely To Be Exacerbated By Climate Change

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2. Identify a broad range of current environmental health problems likely to be exacerbated by climate change. How might existing public health practices be altered to anticipate these effects of climate change? What other key sectors (beyond health) should be engaged?
Current environmental health problems that will likely exacerbate due to climate change include changes in air and water quality, and increase in parasite growth and chemical pollutants.
• General climate change: cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, hypertensive heart disease, and cancer will raise mortality rates.
• Heat stress: most effected are the elderly population
• Air pollution: Photochemical oxidants have adverse effects on human health. Inflammatory eye disease, acute upper respiratory disease, chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive ventilator disease, pulmonary emphysema, and bronchial asthma all fall under this category.
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4. What are the potential co-benefits and the potential unintended consequences of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions?
Co-benefits of planting trees to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions include reducing urban heat island effect, reducing local energy demand, improving air quality, and providing an attractive area for physical and social activities. Reducing fossil fuel use in power plants, reduces air pollution. Sustainable community design which includes active transport and transit use, reduces vehicular traffic, and increases physical activity, lessens air pollution, and reduces risk of vehicular injuries and death.
Potential unintended consequences include diversion of foods (corn and sugar cane) from human consumption, by creating scarcity and increasing food prices. Humanitarian food aid could dwindle. Conversion of forests to croplands can increase carbon dioxide levels, and threaten

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