Climate Change and it's Effect on Health

By: ​Zhereen Uddin

Summary: In the world now, Covid-19 is a major concern. However, climate change has slowly but surely has been affecting the world way before Covid-19. A patient that is elderly had with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who needed to use an inhaler especially because there was an insane heat wave going on in Miami where she lived. It was very difficult for her to breathe in such conditions. to breathe. People that are living in poverty these types of conditions causes bad outcomes such as illness, eviction and even death. The economic fallout during this pandemic have only increased vulnerability. Climate change is one of the biggest global health threats in the 21st century. The rising temperatures has more that comes along with it other than deadly heat waves. Wildfires, flooding and storms are another result of climate change. Due to these environmental factors, doctors see more asthma, heart disease and heat strokes. That’s not all. Other diseases such as dengue fever and Zika are being found in locations all over the world that hardly had these types of diseases. The American health care system were put to the test by what they call the “invisible enemy”. Climate change has put a huge toll on them. The healthcare system itself is a cause of climate change. This being noticed had opened new doors on ways to help out the planet for our own health and safety. Dr. Cheryl Holder co-founded Florida Clinicians for Climate Action. She works to help educate doctors, patients and policymakers about the links between climate change and health. The health risks and concerns of climate change is highly underappreciated. Gary Cohen is the president of Health Care Without Harm, calls it “the elephant in the waiting room”. Climate change also has a major impact on hospitals. Common Spirit Health, a nonprofit Catholic hospital system, almost met their goal to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by the end of 2020. They are using solar panels for energy. The Solar Energy and Loan Fund (SELF) with the assistance of a company called Health Dignity in Florida that provides low-interest loans to low and middle income households for solar panels and efficiency upgrades. If our Earth’s healing mission is to try and change as soon as possible we must try harder to achieve. ​

Why we should care? We should care about this topic because it is important to notice how the climate is changing and it is affecting the lives of many people.

Photo Credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Example Article: 
https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/articles/2020-08-26/the-other-crisis-facing-our-health-care-system-climate-change

I found this article interesting because I learned that climate change is one of the biggest global health threats in the 21st century. Temperatures that are continuing to rise bring more to the table than just strokes, droughts, or heat waves that cause wildfires, storms and flooding that are deadly. It also brings a disease Zika and the disease called dengue fever spread by mosquitos. High temperatures make it the perfect environment for these mosquitos to rise. They are being found in new locations that they were not there before. Climate change is highly unappreciated by many. These are results of us humans polluting our planet. ​

Science in Action.  
Dr. Cheyrl Holder is Interim Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity, and Community Initiatives; and Associate Professor at  Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine.

Climate change has made many people with asthma suffer more. Since the pollution is on a high rise. In 2013 it was found that the Health care’s greenhouse gas emissions made up of 10 percent of the United States of America in total. Climate change is one of the biggest global health threats in the 21st century. Temperatures that are continuing to rise brings a disease Zika and the disease called dengue fever spread by mosquitos. High temperatures make it the perfect environment for these mosquitos to rise. They are being found in new locations that they were not there before. ​