Changes in the climate and health is very crucial topic in this industrialization era. The place where we live has a lot to do with our health. But our climate is changing, which is having big effects on our health, safety, and well-being.
Climate change is a long-term change in the way the world’s weather works. People are mostly to blame for most of the recent changes in our climate. Unless something is done, the changing environment will have terrible effects on our state, the country, and the rest of the world. This is an important issue that affects people all over the world, in their own communities, and in their daily lives.
There are easy things we can all do right now to make ourselves more resistant to climate change’s effects and slow it down. A lot of these things will also help our health, the earth, and our pockets.
Changes in climate
More greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, in the air raise the earth’s normal temperature. This is what causes climate change.
Greenhouse gases keep heat in the air, which makes the air and water warmer. These chemicals are mostly made when fossil fuels, like coal, are burned to make energy. They are also made in farming, mining, land management, and transportation.
Changes in the climate are already being felt. Since official Bureau of Meteorology data began in 1910, Australia’s weather has risen by an average of 1.4°C. This is because of global warming.
Over the whole state of Victoria, the average temperature has gone up by just over 1°C since 1910. Victoria is already going through the following with this much warming:
• more and more days with very high temperatures
• fire weather that is more dangerous and fire seasons that last longer
• less rain during the cool season, which has led to the lowest streamflow ever recorded in the last few decades
• the level of the sea rising.
Victoria’s weather has changed over the last few decades, getting warmer and drier. The CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology have made predictions about the climate of Victoria that these changes will continue in the future. Based on what the weather forecast says for Victoria,
• another rise in the number of days with very high temperatures
• the fire season is getting longer and there are more days with a very high risk of fire
• less rain falling each year on average and a steady drop in streamflow, which hurts the health of waterways and Victorian water sources
• heavy rainfall that is stronger, which could make flash floods more likely in some places
• The sea level along the coasts is still rising.
Most of the people in Victoria live within 50 km of the coast. Rising sea levels and storm waves will make flooding and erosion more likely, which could put people and property at risk and hurt ecosystems in ways that could affect fishing, farming, tourism, and forests.
Find out more about how the weather is changing in Victoria and Australia.
Changes in temperature have health effects
The World Health Organization says that climate change is the biggest danger to health in the 21st century. It has many effects on health and well-being, such as
• directly, by making extreme weather events like heatwaves, floods, and bushfires stronger and happening more often; and
Indirectly, by making the air quality worse, changing how diseases spread, putting food and water at risk, and having an impact on mental health.
In some parts of the economy, climate change will also cause more unemployment, financial stress, food shortages, and social inequality.
Who is most likely to get sick because of climate change?
Some people are more likely to get sick or be affected by climate change:
• Children are at risk for many reasons. For instance, kids are more likely to get dehydrated and stressed out by the heat, and they are also more likely to be affected by air pollution and smoke from bushfires. Because their immune systems aren’t fully formed yet, they are more likely to get sick. During situations, they often need people to keep them safe and help them get better afterward.
• Because of the extra work that pregnancy does on the body, pregnant women are more likely to get heat stress during heatwaves. The air pollution and smoke from bushfires are especially bad for them and their future kids.
• Dehydration, heat stress, infections, and heart and lung disease getting worse are more likely to happen to older people and people who already have health problems.
• People who live in rural or remote places, are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, have low incomes, or are otherwise at risk are also more likely to get sick. This is partly because health results aren’t the same for everyone and it can be hard to get medical care and other services. Extreme events like bushfires, floods, storms, and rising sea levels can also hurt people who live in rural or remote areas or near the coast.
Impacts Caused by Temperature
As average temperatures rise, days will get hotter and heat waves will happen more often and last longer. Because of these changes, more people will die each summer in the United States from heat-related causes, up to tens of thousands more each year by the end of the century.
The smaller drop in deaths from cold weather expected in the winter will not make up for these deaths. However, changes in behavior, like more people using air conditioning, should lessen the predicted rise in deaths from high heat.
Changes expected in a number of climate factors between 2046 and 2065 compared to the average from 1981 to 2000 for the RCP6.0 scenario. The top left shows the coldest night of the year and the top right shows the hottest day of the year. The coolest night of the year is expected to get 6°F to 10°F warmer across most of the country by the middle of this century. In the south, the changes will be little smaller. Most places will be 4°F to 6°F warmer on the hottest day of the year. The driest day of the year (bottom left) and the biggest stretch of dry days in a row (bottom right) are also predicted. The wettest day of the year is expected to get 5% to 15% more rain than it does now. Extreme precipitation is also expected to rise. Most places are expecting the longest dry spell of the year to last longer, but the changes will be small—in most places, less than two days.
When people are exposed to high heat, they can get heat stroke, become dehydrated, and develop heart, lung, and brain diseases. People living in northern regions are less likely to be able to handle extreme temperatures. Some groups are more likely to be hurt than others. For example, people who work outside, play sports, or are poor are more likely to be affected by high heat because they spend more time outside. People with low incomes and older people may not have access to air cooling, which makes them more likely to be in very hot places. Also, kids younger than 5, pregnant women, older adults, and some medical conditions can’t control their body temperature as well, making them more likely to get sick in high heat.
Don’t let mosquitoes bite you
When normal temperatures rise, spring can come earlier, summers can last longer, winters are shorter, and floods happens more often. Because of this, mosquitoes that carry diseases like Ross River virus disease and Murray Valley encephalitis may be able to thrive more easily.
You and your family can avoid getting bitten by mosquitoes by:
• Going outside in clothes that don’t fit well
• putting mosquito repellents with DEET or picaridin on skin that isn’t covered
• Trying to spend less time outside when there are a lot of bugs around
• Making sure that around your house there is no standing water where mosquitoes can lay their eggs
• Making sure that your home has the right bug nets or screens.
Read about more ways to stay healthy and avoid getting sick from mosquitoes.
Keep yourself safe from storms and your health as safe as possible in natural rivers.
Warmer water can put swimmers at risk of health problems, such as being exposed to harmful blue-green algae blooms, which are expected to happen more often because of climate change.
You can cut down on these chances by:
• Don’t swim at beaches or in rivers after it rains a lot, including during floods.
• keeping an eye out for any water quality warnings that come out after floods or because of blue-green algae blooms
• Going to the EPA’s Summer water quality page to find out what the water quality will be like at 36 beaches in Port Phillip Bay and 4 spots along the Yarra River during the summer.
Find out how to stay safe from floods and bad beach water quality.
Swim in a good way
Cryptosporidiosis cases linked to swimming pools are likely to happen more often because more people will be using them on hot days. To keep the water clean while swimming, do these things:
• If you’ve had diarrhea in the last 14 days, don’t go swimming.
• Take a shower and wash your body well, especially your bottom, before you go swimming.
• After going to the bathroom, wash your hands well.
• Don’t swallow water while you’re swimming.
• Tell the person who runs the pool if you get sick after swimming.
Be aware of dirty air
Effects on Air Quality
The air we breathe changes both inside and outside when the weather changes. Changes in climate and warmer temperatures can make the air quality worse, which can cause asthma attacks and other health problems in the lungs and heart. Smoke and other harmful air pollutants are released by wildfires, and the number and severity of these fires are expected to grow as the climate changes. Higher levels of carbon dioxide and warmer temperatures can also affect allergens in the air, like ragweed pollen.
Even though air quality in the U.S. has gotten a lot better since the 1970s, about 57 million Americans still lived in counties that did not meet national air quality standards in 2014. Climate change could make it even harder for states to meet these standards in the future, putting more people in those counties in danger of breathing in unhealthy air.
Rising levels of ozone
Warmer temperatures caused by climate change are expected to make days with dangerous amounts of ground-level ozone more common. Ozone is a harmful air pollutant that is a part of smog.
• People who are exposed to higher amounts of ground-level ozone are more likely to die early or need to go to the hospital for breathing problems.
• Ground-level ozone can hurt lung cells, make it harder for lungs to work, and make passageways swell. This might make asthma or other lung problems worse. People with asthma or other long-term lung illnesses, children, and older people are more likely to get it.
• Los Angeles smog makes it harder to see and can be bad for your health. The California Air Resources Board is the source.
• Because ozone is more likely to form in warm, still air, climate change is likely to raise ground-level ozone levels in parts of the US that are already dirty and make more days with bad air quality.
According to some studies, higher levels of ozone caused by climate change could cause tens to thousands more illnesses and early deaths in the US every year by 2030, if policies for improving air quality don’t change.
How Particulate Matter Has Changed
A group of very small particles and watery drops that are floating in the air is called “particulate matter.” Particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers (about a tenth of an inch) are considered fine. Particulate matter comes from natural sources like dust, campfire smoke, and sea spray. It also comes from human actions like burning fossil fuels for energy. Air gases like sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and volatile organic substances can combine chemically to make these particles. They can also be released straight into the air.
As you breathe in small particles, you can get lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and heart disease, among other health problems.
• Because of climate change, there will likely be more and worse flames. Particulate matter from burning smoke can be blown a long way, affecting people who live far away from the cause of this air pollution.
• Older adults are more likely to get sick or die from short-term particle exposure. People who work outside, like firemen, can also be exposed to a lot of particles.
Because of all the complicated factors that affect the amount of fine particulate matter in the air, scientists still don’t know if climate change will make particulate matter concentrations rise or fall across the United States. Rainfall can remove particulate matter from the air, and it is expected to rain more often, but not necessarily more often. Changes in climate-related periods of still air, wind patterns, plant outputs, and the chemistry of air toxins will also have an effect on particulate matter levels.
A quiz about climate change and human health
Do you think you can get a perfect score? Check out our quiz to see how much you know about how climate change affects health!
Any changes to allergens or asthma triggers
The number of people with allergic diseases, like hay fever, is about one-third of the U.S. population, and more than 34 million Americans have been diagnosed with asthma. Climate change may have an effect on allergies and respiratory health. In the U.S., the spring pollen season starts earlier for some plants, and it lasts longer for plants with highly allergenic pollen, like ragweed. Rising temperatures and carbon dioxide levels may cause ragweed to flower earlier, have more flowers, and produce more pollen.
Extreme weather events and their effects
Some extreme weather events, like heavy rain, flooding, droughts, and storms, are becoming more common or worse, which can be bad for people’s health during and after the event. Young children, older adults, people with disabilities or medical conditions, and the poor are most at risk. Many things can happen during extreme events that can hurt people’s health, such as
• Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst storms to hit the United States. It is thought that between 971 and 1,300 people died. NOAA is the source.
• Making it harder to get healthy food and water to drink.
• Damage to roads and bridges, making it hard to get to shops and hospitals.
• Getting in the way of energy, health care, and information services.
• Adding to the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning from wrong use of portable generators during and after storms.
• More stomach and intestine illnesses, especially after power cuts.
• causing mental health problems like sadness and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or making them worse
Also, older people are more likely to get sick during emergency evacuations, especially those who have trouble moving around and can’t use lifts when the power goes out. Moving medical papers, medications, and medical tools at the same time may make evacuations more difficult. Some people with disabilities may also be more negatively affected if they can’t get to evacuation routes, have trouble understanding or getting warnings of oncoming danger, or can’t say what they need to be said.
Diseases Spread by Vectors
Vector borne diseases are those that are spread by disease carriers, such as fleas, ticks, and mosquitoes. Animals can get viruses, bacteria, and protozoa from these carriers and then pass them on to people. Changes in weather, rainfall, and extreme events can make it easier for diseases to spread to more places and cause illnesses to start earlier in the year.
• Ticks that carry Lyme disease can only live in certain areas because of the weather. Ticks are likely to become active earlier in the season as air temperatures rise, and their range is likely to continue to grow northward. People who have Lyme disease often have fever, headaches, tiredness, and a rash that looks like a tick bite.
• Mosquitoes like some types of weather and can spread diseases like West Nile virus. Too cold, too hot, too wet, or too dry conditions affect where and how many mosquitoes that spread West Nile virus are present. In the US, more than three million people were thought to have had the West Nile virus between 1999 and 2010.
Climate-sensitive diseases will spread based on both climate and non-climate factors, like how the land is used, the culture and economy, how well pests are controlled, how easy it is for people to get medical care, and how people react to the risk of getting sick. The US has public health facilities and programs that keep an eye on, control, and stop the spread of many diseases. Poorer countries that can’t avoid or treat illness as well may have a much higher chance of getting diseases that are affected by climate change.
West Nile virus is kept alive by rounds of transfer between mosquitoes and birds, which are the virus’s natural hosts. When a mosquito bites a person after biting an infected bird, the person can get sick. Warmer winters, longer frost-free seasons, and spring coming earlier may change how birds that naturally carry the West Nile virus migrate and how many of their young survive. The number and location of mosquitoes that spread the West Nile virus may also change because of rising temperatures, changing trends of rainfall, and more extreme weather events.
Illnesses Caused by Water
People can get sick if they drink or play in water that isn’t clean. The impact of storms, rising temperatures, and more heavy rains and flows all make it more likely that people will get sick. Some of the health effects could be stomach problems like diarrhea, problems with the mental and breathing systems, or harm to the liver and kidneys.
• Changes in climate can affect how much waterborne pathogens (like Cryptosporidium and Giardia) and toxins created by dangerous algal and cyanobacterial blooms are exposed to people; as well as chemicals that people use that end up in the water.
• Because water temperatures are changing, dangerous algal toxins and waterborne Vibrio bacteria will be in the water or in fish at different times of the year or in places they weren’t before.
Extreme precipitation, hurricane rainfall, and storm surge will cause more runoff and floods, which will pollute more bodies of water that people use for leisure (like lakes and beaches), shellfish gathering, and drinking.
• Bad weather and storm waves can damage or overwhelm water facilities, like drinking water or wastewater treatment plants, making it more likely that people will be exposed to contaminants.
There are many public health protections in place in the United States by water supply, public health, and environmental agencies, even if water gets polluted. Some of these are keeping an eye on the water quality, setting standards and practices for treating drinking water, closing beaches, and giving advice on how to boil water for drinking and how to collect shellfish.
Safety and Health of Food
Food safety and nutrition are likely to be affected by climate change and the direct effects of more carbon dioxide in the air. Extreme weather events can also make it harder or take longer for food to get to people who need it.
• Because bacteria grow faster in warm places, higher air temperatures can make more people sick with Salmonella and other bacteria-based food poisonings. In the worst cases, these diseases can kill you. Safeguarding food can help keep you from getting these diseases even as the temperature changes.
• Climate change will have many effects that may make it more likely that you will eat food that contains chemicals that are bad for you. By way of example, higher sea surface temperatures will cause fish to contain more mercury, and more extreme weather will bring contaminants into the food chain through storm water flow.
Carbon dioxide levels in the air can “fertilize” some plants, but they lower the protein and important mineral levels in crops like wheat, rice, and potatoes, which makes these foods less healthy.
• Extreme events like floods and drought make it hard to get food to people who need it if roads and waters are damaged or blocked.
As food goes from being grown to being eaten, or “from farm to table,” it interacts with many parts of our physical and biological environments. Rising CO2 and climate change will have an impact on the quality and distribution of food, which will then have an impact on food safety and nutrition.
Health and Mind
Any changes in a person’s physical health or the surroundings they live in can also have bad effects on their mental health. Being through a severe weather event can cause stress and other mental health problems, especially if someone loses their home or loved ones.
• People with mental illness are more likely to die during heat waves; studies have shown that having a mental illness increases your risk of death three times during heat waves. People who take medications for mental illness that make it hard to control your body temperature are especially at risk.
• Even the idea that climate change is a threat (for example, from reading or watching news about it) can change how people deal with worry and their mental health.
Adults and children, women who are pregnant or have recently given birth, people who already have a mental illness (see above), people who are poor, and emergency workers are more likely to experience mental health effects.
Populations to Be Aware Of
climate changes and health Fact Sheets
Climate change poses health risks to some groups of people more than others. Vulnerability is based on three things: sensitivity, which is how much a person or group is affected by a stressor like higher temperatures; exposure, which is how close a person is to a stressor; and adaptive capacity, which is how well a person can deal with or avoid potential dangers. Older people are more likely to get sick in very hot weather, but an older person who lives in an air-conditioned apartment won’t be affected as long as she stays inside and can afford the electricity to run the air conditioner. The fact that she can do these things shows how well she can change.
Some groups are more likely to be affected by climate-related health risks than others because they are more sensitive, less able to respond, or a mix of these factors.
• People from low-income families, immigrants, communities of color (including Indigenous communities and other racial and ethnic groups), and those who don’t speak English as their first language are more likely to be hurt than other groups. This is because they are more likely to be exposed to harmful things, have problems in school or with their finances that make it harder for them to adapt, and have more health problems that make them more sensitive.
• Children are more likely to be exposed to many health risks because their bodies are more sensitive and they spend more time outside playing. Heavy rain, heat waves, and other unusual events can hurt pregnant women.
• Many of the effects of climate change are more likely to hurt older people. They might be more sensitive to heat and germs, have a higher rate of disability or underlying health problems, or not have as much money, which makes it hard for them to respond to the effects.
• People who work outside, as firemen, firefighters, transportation workers, and people who work in hot indoor settings will be especially at risk for getting sick from the heat and vector-borne diseases.
• People with disabilities can be very at risk during extreme weather events if their towns don’t make sure that their disaster plans include ways to help them.
• People with long-term health problems are often more likely to get sick in high heat, especially if they are on medicines that make it hard to control their body temperature. Power outages can be especially dangerous for people who depend on certain medical equipment.
Other Effects on Health
There are other connections between climate change and health. For instance, changes in temperature and rainfall, as well as droughts and floods, will influence crop yields and production. In some parts of the world, these effects may make food security less secure and put people’s health at risk by causing malnutrition, the spread of diseases, and food poisoning. The worst of these effects are expected to happen in developing countries, especially among weaker groups. Health problems in other countries can have an impact on the US through trade, movement, and immigration, and they can also have security implications.
People’s health could be affected by climate change in the US and around the world, but there are things we can do to get ready for and adapt to these changes. For example, we can set up early warning systems for heat waves and other extreme events, work to make vulnerable groups less vulnerable, make healthcare professionals more aware, and make sure that infrastructure is built to handle expected future climate changes. The first step in working together to lower risks and be ready is to understand the health risks that climate change brings.
How you can lessen your impact on climate changes and health
What each person does can make a difference. We can all make a difference, and when we all do it together, it makes an even bigger difference.
To help slow or stop climate change, you can do many good things that are also good for your health. Some of these are:
• Using more “active transport,” like walking and biking, can lower your chance of getting diabetes, heart disease, some cancers, being overweight, and injury to your bones and joints.
• You can help lower the risk of lung cancer, asthma, heart disease, and stroke by using public transportation or active transportation instead of driving a car. This will also lower greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality.
• It is better for your health and the earth to eat more plant-based foods, like fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, and whole grains, and less animal-based foods.
As part of a healthy, active lifestyle and a well-balanced diet, eating the daily suggested amount of fruit and veggies for men and women can help you lose weight, keep it off, lower your cholesterol, and lower your blood pressure.
Reduce your intake of processed foods that are high in kilojoules to cut down on wasted energy and the damage these foods do to the earth. Processed foods usually have a lot of salt, extra sugars, or saturated fat. They also take more energy to make and are usually packed, which adds to the amount of trash in landfills.
• Using water from the tap. The water in Victoria is some of the best in the world. It’s better for you and the earth to drink tap water instead of sweet drinks or water in a bottle. It’s also a lot cheaper.
• If you cool and heat your home properly, you’ll be comfy all year and save money on energy costs.
There are health benefits for our neighborhoods, and they also help the health system by making it less busy.
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