Climate change affects the very basics that humans need to stay healthy and alive: clean air, safe water, productive and uncontaminated soils for growing food, and adequate shelter. According to the WHO, climate impacts on these basic needs will lead to 250,000 additional deaths a year, “from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress” between 2030 and 2050. Weather-related natural disasters have more than tripled since the 1960s, resulting in more than 60,000 deaths a year, mostly in developing nations.30 The young, elderly, and poor are at especially great risk.
This is costly to the economy as well as to human health and survival. The World Bank estimates that a severe influenza pandemic could cost the world economy $3 trillion. Environment Canada says air pollution alone costs the Canadian economy billions of dollars a year because of increased health care costs, missed workdays, and reduced productivity.
The 2015–16 spread of the Zika virus also gives us a glimpse of what to expect from climate change. Researchers believe the virus, which is transmitted by mosquitoes, could spread farther north as warmer, wetter weather provides ideal conditions for the mosquitoes to breed. The spread in South America is probably linked to wetter and warmer conditions there. Other mosquito-borne illnesses could also spread.
Reducing the threat of global warming and finding ways to adapt to unavoidable change will help people around the world “deal with the impact of heat, extreme weather, infectious disease and food insecurity,” according to the WHO. Climate change affects human health in multiple ways. Increased extreme weather causes flooding and droughts, which influences food production, water, and sanitation. Pathogens that plague humans, livestock, and crops spread more widely. The WHO noted that diseases such as cholera, malaria, and dengue are especially sensitive to weather and climate changes: “Climate change is already causing tens of thousands of deaths every year from shifting patterns of disease, from extreme weather events, such as heat-waves and floods, and from the degradation of water supplies, sanitation, and impacts on agriculture.” And it will get worse if we fail to address the problem.
Global warming and pollution also affect ailments such as asthma and allergies. A warming planet means longer growing seasons and stimulated plant growth in many areas (although it’s causing drought and reduced plant growth in some parts of the world). Research shows the U.S. pollen season lengthened by about sixteen days from 1995 to 2014 and the ragweed season by anywhere from a day to sixteen days, with greater increases moving north. The Public Health Agency of Canada says Canada’s ragweed season was close to a month longer in 2014 than in 1995 because of warming temperatures.
And rising atmospheric CO2 actually increases pollen production. Tests conducted by U.S. Department of Agriculture weed ecologist Lewis Ziska showed pollen production doubled from five to ten grams per plant when CO2 in the atmosphere went up from 280 parts per million in 1900 to 370 in 2000,31 according to a USA Today article. That could double to twenty grams by 2075 if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise.
Add to that the extreme weather impacts of climate change that can exacerbate allergy symptoms and other respiratory problems (rain and higher temperatures create more molds and fungi in some places; more dust contributes to allergies and asthma in drought-stricken areas), plus the all-around increases in ground-level ozone, smoke, and pollution, and you’ve got a recipe for mass discomfort, illness, death, and rising health care costs.
We still don’t fully understand the multiple impacts of global warming on allergies or what else may be contributing to the problem. Increased chemical exposure and the hygiene factor—which shows lack of exposure to germs and the outdoors early in life can make people more prone to allergies—may also be involved.
The effects on allergies don’t mean people should stay indoors. Getting outside offers numerous physical and mental health benefits. Research even shows that kids who spend a lot of time outdoors develop fewer allergies. People can also take steps to minimize allergic reactions, such as going outside later in the day, when pollen levels are lower, and reducing allergens inside the home. After all, this isn’t about plants being bad for people. We can’t live without them. It’s more about the natural systems that keep us alive and healthy being thrown out of whack by our reckless behavior.
“The evidence is overwhelming: climate change endangers human health,” said WHO director-general Margaret Chan. “Solutions exist and we need to act decisively to change this trajectory.” Doing all we can to prevent climate change from getting worse will make life easier for all of us. If we want to protect our health, our children and grandchildren’s health, and the natural systems that keep us alive and healthy, we must act.
MENTAL HEALTH IN THE FACE OF CLIMATE DESPAIR
WHILE CLIMATE CHANGE is affecting and will continue to threaten human physical health, it’s also taking a toll on mental health. People understandably feel afraid, grief-stricken, guilt-ridden, and often powerless to change what we are doing to the planet and its life-support systems. According to a 2016 Toronto Star article, “Signs of mental distress related to climate change have appeared in vulnerable populations, from drought-stricken prairie farmers to isolated aboriginal communities and the scientists who crunch climate data.”32
The article points to a 2012 U.S. National Wildlife Federation report that concluded increasing heat waves, drought, extreme weather, and growing pressure on food and water systems and infrastructure will increase mental and social disorders, including “depressive and anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders, substance abuse, suicides and widespread outbreaks of violence,” hitting “children, the poor, the elderly and those with existing mental health problems” the hardest.33
Climate scientists and environmentalists who study global warming are reporting increasing cases of depression, anxiety, stress, and other difficulties, coupled with the problems they bring about, such as marriage breakdown, substance abuse, and even suicide.
Although the article notes that the American Psychological Association is taking the issue seriously, studying and raising awareness about it, most health authorities are unprepared. Environmental lawyer David R. Boyd, who has done work with the David Suzuki Foundation, told the Star that he wrote The Optimistic Environmentalist in part to overcome the stress of examining environmental problems. “For me, writing this was a voyage of recovery,” he said.34
Birds and Other Animals Face Hard Times
OUR INSATIABLE ENERGY appetite puts many animals at risk. A 2015 report in Science magazine concluded that one in six animal and plant species could go extinct over the coming century if we don’t do enough to address climate change, with those in South America, Australia, and New Zealand being hit particularly hard.35 The researchers found that 2.8 percent of species are already at risk of extinction and that the risk would rise to 5.2 percent with a two-degree-Celsius increase in global temperatures. Extinction risks could be exacerbated by human activity, leading to habitat loss or damage, pollution, and alteration of natural systems by climate change. A 2013 study predicted that global warming could eliminate or deplete 82 percent of California’s native freshwater fish species. Other studies have found that climate change will alter migration patterns and timing, affect reproduction, and make some fish smaller.
Birds face some of the highest risks. Reading some energy-related news and blogs, one might conclude wind power is the biggest bird killer. But that’s far from true. Although poorly situated wind farms, especially ones using older turbine technology, do kill birds, it’s an issue that can be addressed to a large extent with proper siting and good technology, as can problems around solar installations where birds have died. Fossil fuels, especially coal, are by far the largest energy-related bird killers. Heavy metals such as mercury and lead from burning coal kill numerous birds—and even change their songs, which can affect their ability to mate and protect territory.36 And climate change is affecting many species’ breeding and migratory patterns.
Renewable energy critics often cite the number of birds killed by wind power installations, but studies show that