Impacts of Climate Change Essay

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.

(WHO 2015) It is now generally acknowledged that the global climate is changing as the earth becomes warmer, in particular due to the burning of fossil fuels. Human health may be impacted by shifting the geographic range and seasonality of infectious diseases, possibly increasing vector borne disease rates, disturbance of food-producing ecosystems, and increasing the frequency of extreme weather events such as droughts, cyclones, floods and bush

Climate change increases the possibility of extreme weather events which in turn makes disease transmission more frequent in poor, developing countries. The weather event known as El Nino has been determined to be one of the leading environmental factors that influences disease. El Nino is a band of warmer than average water, which

Food borne illnesses such as salmonella, shigellosis, and other bacteria related food poisonings will increase due to the rapid rise in temperature. These diseases can cause gastrointestinal problems, even death. An increase in rain flow causes flooding which can lead to an increase in food contamination. Water borne diseases Cryptosporidium and Giardia increase with heavy rainfall, and these parasites can be very harmful to the human body. Animal borne diseases such as Lyme disease and West Nile virus will increase as air temperature rises. Ticks and mosquito population will grow rapidly and conditions will be favorable for new strains of the diseases listed above. These diseases will have an effect on my career as a Forensic

Climate change looms large over our rapidly growing and continually changing world. No longer are the adverse effects of this menacing global issue a mere ominous projections, they are starting to become a very concrete reality. Countries are today experiencing rising sea levels, which compromises coastal infrastructure, prolonged drought, squeezing food supply and agricultural productivity, as well as extreme storms. Rising temperatures have already led to vast reductions in the size of the Arctic. There is now no doubt amongst scientists that anthropogenic activity has been the primary catalyst to the

In the early 20th century people knew that they could cause changes to their local climates by, for example, leveling large portions of forests and over ploughing fields; but very few thought human action could affect the global climate. It wasn’t until 1958 that humans began to record measurements of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which revealed an increasing amount. This new data scientists were recording supported the idea of global climate change as real and that increased green house gases in the atmosphere would in fact cause the world’s climate to become warmer. In the 1980’s the world’s global temperature started to climb at a faster pace than seen before which helped the issue gain attention among the public, the scientific community,

In the introduction of Thomas Gale Moore’s essay, he states that “Threats of global warming are bringing on a plague… infestation we speak of is a plague of misinformation, infecting the public consciousness and blurring the issue of the effects of climate change on human health in a swarm of anxiety and confusion”. One of his sources states that “global warming is not the current problem. It is a collapse in public health measures, an increase in drug resistance in parasites, and an increase in pesticide resistance in vector

In the years following the turn of the 20th century, climate change is creating new public health challenges. The Environmental Protection Agency cites heat waves, extreme weather events, reduced air quality, and climate-sensitive diseases among the threats to human health that are associated with climate change.

In these three articles, it is said that the “The introduction of public health-related policies may be a few years off, as most efforts are currently focused on research, planning, and communication between federal and state agencies” (The Baffling Nexus of Climate Change and Health). This shows that we need to take into account that things are changing and we may not have any control over but we need to look out for the well-being of people in today's society. For example, infectious diseases, waterborne and foodborne pathogens are all public health concerns and can be affected by climate change. We can do anything about climate change it’s essentially out of our hands and nevertheless, it is something that we need to focus on because it is causing detrimental results to all of us globally. The West Nile virus is a good example because it refers to a particular region in Uganda and is now

Climate is inherently variable. Climate changes from place to place and it varies with time. The world now faces one of the complex and important issue it has ever had to deal with: climate change. Climate change today is one of the biggest concerns of human beings on the planet and the effects of climate change are undeniable and it may cause environmental, social, and economic threats to the planet. We already know and easily can highlight several signs of climate change. They are: rising global sea level, widespread melting of snow and ice, rapidly changing ocean and global temperatures, and other signs. So, what are the causes of climate change? Is it natural or do human beings cause it? Well, in both cases we would be right. The climate change can be affected by natural factors, such as solar output, volcanic eruptions, and the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Also, climate change can be affected by human activities such as, deforestation, burning fossil fuels, causing ozone hole, and building mass destructive weapons and using them on earth that causes a huge radioactivity on earth. Currently, the threat of global climate change does not threaten some nations to the extent of others. Compare the United States with the rest of African countries. We live in prosperity and in much easier time than the rest African countries. Most African countries cannot grow anything on their lands because of climate change. At the end, climate change might affect everyone on

The understanding of climate change and its influences on the developmental and activity levels for various vectors is a critical factor of concern in terms of control and management of transmissible diseases. Presently, the concomitant changes in the global temperatures have resulted in elevation of the global temperatures by 1.50C to 4.50C over the last 1200 years (Williams, Mincham, Ritchie, Viennet, & Harley, 2014). Although consistent changes are evident across the globe, the latitudinal differences present an additional variation across the entire world. Even within the latitudinal differences, the changes are not homogenous. For instance, the degree of climate warming at the equatorial zones is slower in comparison with the one at the higher latitudes such as the Nearctic as well as at the Palearctic regions (Williams, Mincham, Ritchie, Viennet, & Harley, 2014). Moreover, research shows that summer temperatures also warm at a slower rate compared to the winter temperatures (Williams, Mincham, Ritchie, Viennet, & Harley, 2014). The climate warming experienced over the Earth’s surface also affects precipitation distribution across the Earth (Walton & Reisen, 2013). For instance, the warming processes and the changes in precipitation patterns over the last decade signals that northern high latitudes are increasingly becoming wetter as African and Asian continents continue to become drier with the course of time (Walton & Reisen, 2013).

Global climate change transcends the future of the entire generation. Yunjing Wang mentions that the world is expecting warming that could be dangerous throughout the century (Wang et al., 2015). Not only effecting species of animals but also determining the presence of human existence. New diseases prevail on a daily basis specifically vector borne. These vector borne illnesses adapt to climate change due to temperature fluctuations, constant precipitation, and population adjustments. Although diseases such as Malaria and Zika are being researched on a daily basis, preventative measures for diseases caused by climate change are being acted upon by many organizations. If a steady climate can arise in the near future, virulence of many climate-related diseases will eventually decline.

Climate change otherwise known as global warming has been an ongoing issue for decades. Beginning in the 19th century, climate change has increasingly affected Earth and its atmosphere. Rising levels of carbon dioxide are warming the Earth’s atmosphere, causing rising sea-levels, melting snow and ice, extreme fires and droughts, and intense rainfall and floods. Climate change has and will continue to affect food production, availability of water, and can add to many health risks in humans and animals. In fact, in an article by Justin Gillis titled, “Scientists Warn of Perilous Climate Shift Within Decades, Not Centuries” he focuses on a paper written by a former NASA climate scientist, James E. Hansen, explaining the effects of climate change on Earth today. Although many believe Hansen’s theories in the paper are quite far-fetched, the author mentions, “Despite any reservations they might have about the new paper, virtually all climate scientists agree with Dr. Hansen’s group that society is not moving fast enough to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, posing grave risks” (Gillis). Gillis validates the fact that climate change has been rapidly expanding throughout Earth and society has not been able to reduce it fast enough. Many negative risks are being posed and will continue to mount if the issue of climate change is not taken seriously. Although climate change negatively affects nearly all aspects of Earth, it poses a big

Climate change could be described as any process that causes adjustment to climate system be it a volcanic eruption to a change in the solar activity. Today, however, the phrase is most often used as climate change caused by humans. Climate change is also used commonly with another phrase – "global warming" – reflecting scientific observations of strong warming trends over the past century or so. Indicators like rising sea levels, retreating snow cover and glaciers, longer growing seasons and shifting wildlife has alarmed scientific community unanimously agreeing that the earth has warmed in the last century. Experts however are of the opinion that climate change is a more accurate phrase than global warming as the latter is just one component affecting the larger climate systems of the earth.

According to the World Health Organization, between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year, from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress. The increase in global temperature, rising sea levels, and the destruction of ecosystems have threatened