A new report has revealed that the health of the present generation is affected by the climate crisis and this will leave an impact on the generations to come as well. As the temperature goes on increasing, there will be more diseases, deaths resulting from heat waves and fires, famines as well as problems related to the mental health.
The director of Global Health Institute at University of Wisconsin, Dr. Jonathan Patz said that climate crisis is badly affecting children and they are already suffering from asthma, dengue fever and diarrheal disease. It is high time that people understand that climate crisis will result in health crisis of people. The lead author of the study, Dr. Renee Sallas said that the treatment for this was mentioned in the Paris Climate Agreement goals. If warming has to be limited to 1.5 degree Celsius, then there should be a 45% reduction in the levels of greenhouse emissions by 2030 and should reach zero by the year 2050.
Substituting non-renewable sources of energy with renewable sources is not found to be feasible because of their high costs. However Patz said that the health benefits of clean energy outweigh their investment costs. The largest carbon emitter of the world, China, has reduced their reliance on coal for electricity generation. There have been improvements in the levels of air pollution in Europe over the period from 2015-2016. The report said that air pollution is worsened by warmer temperature. The lungs and the heart are badly affected by pollution.
The report also found that there is an increased chance of spreading of diseases with an increase in temperature. Over the period from 1990-2018 people everywhere were facing problems from heat waves. Heat wave exposures of nearly 220 million were reported worldwide in 2018 alone. They became more frequent and longer. Heat related problems include heat stroke, heat exhaustion and hyperthermia. The threats of wildfire have been growing and were a major problem over the years from 2001-2014. The physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dr. Caren Solomon said that the long term effects of wild fires are more dangerous.
Awareness should be created through science and the policy makers and the general public must be made aware of this such that policies should be made which can be made feasible from the political standpoint.