The World Health Organization (WHO) released a list of the “Ten Threats to Global Health in 2019” on Jan. 14, 2019. The organization stated, “The world is facing multiple health challenges. These range from outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases...
Pop-upView Separately

The World Health Organization (WHO) released a list of the “Ten Threats to Global Health in 2019” on Jan. 14, 2019. The organization stated, “The world is facing multiple health challenges. These range from outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases like measles and diphtheria, increasing reports of drug-resistant pathogens, growing rates of obesity and physical inactivity to the health impacts of environmental pollution and climate change and multiple humanitarian crises.”

The list includes air pollution and climate change as the “greatest environmental risk to health,” with the WHO estimating that 90% of people worldwide breathe polluted air daily, which kills seven million people every year. Air pollution also contributes to climate change, which the WHO estimates will cause an extra 250,000 deaths yearly from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress.

The WHO states primary health care “ideally should provide comprehensive, affordable, community-based care throughout life.” Many countries have what the WHO called “weak primary care,” which the organization hopes to “revitalize and strengthen” in 2019.

Also on the list are anti-vaxxers. The WHO defines “vaccine hesitancy” as “the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate despite the availability of vaccines,” which the WHO says, “threatens to reverse progress made in tackling vaccine-preventable diseases.” According to the WHO, 1.5 million deaths could be prevented if vaccine coverage improved worldwide.

Fragile and vulnerable settings, such as places where there is famine, conflict, or drought, made the list because it impacts 1.6 billion people, about 22% of the global population.

Non-communicable diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, are responsible for over 70% of deaths, including 15 million premature deaths of people between 30 and 69. Ebola and other high-threat pathogens, HIV/AIDS dengue, and an impending flu pandemic are also on the list.

And, finally, antimicrobial resistance, defined as resistance to antibiotics, antivirals, and antimalarials, “threatens to send us back to a time when we were unable to easily treat infections such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, gonorrhea, and salmonellosis [salmonella],” according to the WHO.

(via Climate Change, Weak Health Care, and Anti-Vaccination in WHO Ten Threats to Global Health - ProCon.org)

Source: procon.org

California state lawmakers voted to extend California’s cap and trade program to the year 2030. The program seeks to address climate change by requiring companies to purchase permits to emit greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, creating a monetary...
Pop-upView Separately

California state lawmakers voted to extend California’s cap and trade program to the year 2030. The program seeks to address climate change by requiring companies to purchase permits to emit greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, creating a monetary incentive for them to reduce their emissions. California is currently the only state in the nation with a cap and trade program of its kind.

Assembly Bill 398 passed the California Assembly in a 55-21 vote and cleared the California Senate in a 28-12 vote. In addition to strong Democratic support, the bill also received support from eight Republican members.

After the legislature passed the bill, California Gov. Jerry Brown issued a statement calling climate change “the existential threat of our time” and praised Republicans and Democrats for setting aside their differences and coming together to take “courageous action.”

US Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) had urged Republican members of the California State Legislature to vote against extending California’s cap and trade program, stating it will only lead to “raising more taxes on California drivers and families.” Some of the money raised by the program will be used to help fund California’s bullet train, a project McCarthy called a “boondoggle.”

According to the California Legislative Analyst’s Office, the cap and trade bill could raise gasoline prices by 24-73 cents a gallon 

  (via California Extends Cap and Trade Program to Address Climate Change - ProCon.org)

Source: procon.org

2015 was the hottest year on record since temperature recordings began in 1880, according to global land and ocean surface temperature measurements from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA reports that climate change “is...
View Separately

2015 was the hottest year on record since temperature recordings began in 1880, according to global land and ocean surface temperature measurements from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA reports that climate change “is apparent now across our nation.”

Global temperatures in 2015 were 1.62°F above the 20th century average, beating out the previous record hot year of 2014. Fifteen of the 16 hottest years ever recorded have occurred since the year 2000 according to NOAA and NASA measurements.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says the record-setting heat of 2015 was the result of a combination of the “exceptionally strong El Niño and global warming caused by greenhouse gases.” WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas stated that though the “power of El Niño will fade in the coming months,” the “impacts of human-induced climate change will be with us for many decades.”

However, according to Tom Harris, Executive Director of the International Climate Science Coalition, the earth temperature measurements that the NOAA and NASA base their claims of record setting temperatures on are meaningless…

Source: procon.org

Climate Change Threatens 50 Years of Global Health Gains, Says New Lancet Study - ProCon.org

image A new study published in the medical journal Lancetfound that the consequences of climate change“threatens to undermine the last half century of gains” in global healthcare. The study was conducted by theLancet’s Commission on Health and Climate Change, a group of more than 30 researchers from universities in the United Kingdom, Germany, China, Kenya, and Sweden. It was a follow-up study to the Commission’s 2009 report which similarly concluded that “[c]limate change is the biggest global health threat of the 21st century.”

The June 22, 2015 study was titled “Health and Climate Change: Policy Responses to Protect Public Health,” and it reported that climate change results in increased storms, droughts, floods, and heatwaves, which lead to reduced water quality, increased air pollution, changes in land use, and ecological changes, which can impact public health by leading to increases in mental illness, undernutrition, allergies, cardiovascular disease, infectious diseases, injuries, respiratory diseases, and poisoning. The authors cited concerns such as changing patterns in the spread of disease, food insecurity, and displacement as also being consequences of climate change and contributing factors to rising health problems. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that, between 2030 and 2050, an additional 250,000 people globally would die each year due to climate change.

According to the authors, climate change could contribute to an increase in dengue fever and malaria because rising temperatures and changes in rain patterns change the area in which mosquitos carrying the diseases are found. They said instances of cholera and other waterborne disease could also rise due to increased flooding, hurricanes, and weather events such as El Niño. In the United States specifically, they wrote that the mortality rate attributed to rising ozone levels is expected to rise by 4-5% by 2050.

The authors propose a “rapid phase out of coal from the global energy mix” to safeguard against an increase in cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. The authors state that a reduction in fossil fuel emissions will not only cut respiratory diseases but will also contribute to…

Source: procon.org

Climate Change Study Shows Most Americans Believe in Global Warming but Not Human Causation

image
According to a study published in Nature Climate Change, a majority (63%) of Americans believeglobal warming is happening.  The same study also found that 48% of Americans think that human activity is primarily responsible for global warming, 35% believe natural changes are the main cause of global warming, and 17% were unsure or did not respond.

The statistical model was generated by a team of researchers from Yale and Utah State Universities who put together data from 12 nationally representative opinion surveys conducted between 2008 and 2013. In total, the study analyzed responses from 13,000 individuals across the United States.

The study found that 52% of Americans are “worried about global warming,” and 51% believe global warming “will harm people in the US.”

Although fewer than half of Americans (48%) believe that human activity is primarily responsible for global warming, more than half of Americans (77%) believe the government should fund research into renewable energy sources and 74% believe the government should regulate CO2 as a pollutant. In addition, 63% of Americans believe that there should be “strict limits on existing coal-fired power plants.”

Source: procon.org

New Study Says Climate Change Impacted by Meat Consumption

A new report published in the journal Nature Climate Changeestimates that maintaining current food production and consumption levels could increase greenhouse gas emissions up to 80% above 2009 levels by 2050. As the world population rises toward 9.6 billion and the demand for meat increases as more developing countries adopt a Western diet, meat production could have global climate change consequences. 

Global meat production hit an all-time high in 2013 at 308.5 million tons, and is expected to keep growing. According to the study, meat production is considered to contribute to climate change in a number of ways. First, livestock convert plant feed to meat at a relatively inefficient rate of less than 3 percent. This causes more and more arable land to be taken up with producing livestock feed instead of producing crops for direct human consumption. Second, the authors say that expanded food production “is a main driver of biodiversity loss,” and that by 2050, cropland will have expanded by 42%, fertilizer use will increase by 45% and the land mass of tropical forests will reduce by 10%. Finally, the meat industry relies heavily on cows, which further increase greenhouse gas emissions by producing methane through enteric fermentation (aka farts and burps). 

To assess methods to combat this scenario, the researchers ran three scenarios, including: (1) a closing of “yield gaps,” where farmers achieve the highest crop yields possible; (2) halving food waste, which can be responsible for the loss of one third to one half of food produced every year; and (3) a global reduction in meat consumption. Projecting a reduced demand for meat turned out to have the largest potential effect on the environment, dropping greenhouse gas emissions 48% from their 2009 levels.

Climate Change Is Impacting the United States Now

Melting Arctic Ice in SummerThe National Climate Assessment, a report produced by a group of more than 300 experts and a 60-member Federal Advisory Committee, concluded that human-induced “climate change is happening now.”

The report, released on May 6, 2014, details how climate change "impacts are visible in every state,“ including increased heat, drought, insect outbreaks, and wildfires in the Southwest, receding glaciers and thawing permafrost in Alaska, increased coral bleaching and disease outbreaks in Hawaii, coastal flooding, intense rain and snow events in the Northeast, and increased risk of extreme events such as hurricanes in the Southeast.

According to the 2014 report, US average temperature has increased by 1.3°F to 1.9°F since 1895, and is projected to rise another 2°F to 4°F over the next decade. Specific examples of climate change impacts from the report include a 70% increase in the amount of rain falling in heavy storm events in the Northeast between 1958 and 2010, and the possibility that Arctic summer sea ice may "virtually disappear before mid-century.” In Puerto Rico, the coastline near Rincòn is eroding at a rate of 3.3 feet per year, and coastal areas in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas already have average annual losses that total $14 billion due to hurricane winds, land shifting, and sea level rise.

Under a 1990 Congressional mandate, the National Climate Assessment report is to be published once every four years. The conclusions of the 2014 National Climate Assessment provided support for President Obama’s Climate Action Plan released in June 2013. In an interview about the assessment report, Obama stated that climate change “is not some distant problem of the future. This is a problem that is affecting Americans right now. Whether it means increased flooding, greater vulnerability to drought, more severe wildfires — all these things are having an impact on Americans as we speak.”

Scientists Agree That Climate Change Caused By Humans

imageOn Mar. 18, 2014 the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society, released a public warning on the dangers posed by climate change in its report, “What We Know: The Reality, Risks and Response to Climate Change.”

The new report focuses on three messages. The first is that “climate scientists agree: climate change is happening here and now.” The second is that “we are at risk of pushing our climate system toward abrupt, unpredictable, and potentially irreversible changes with highly damaging impacts.” The third is being that “the sooner we act, the lower the risk and cost. And there is much we can do.” According to the report, “97% of climate scientists have concluded that humans are changing the climate.”

However, some scientists question the idea that human-caused global warming could potentially have catastrophic impacts on the earth. Richard Lindzen, PhD, a Fellow at the AAAS who was not involved with the report, stated in an Oct. 19, 2013 CATO Institute publication that “the fact that greenhouse gases have increased over the past 200 years or so, and that their greenhouse impact is already about 80% of what one expects from a doubling of CO2 are all perfectly consistent with there being no serious problem. Even the text of the IPCC Scientific Assessment agrees that catastrophic consequences are highly unlikely.”

Is Human Activity a Substantial Cause of Global Climate Change?

Is Human Activity a Substantial Cause of Global Climate Change?The US National Academies of Science, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and many others, say that greenhouse gas levels are rising due to human activities such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation which are causing significant climate changes including global warming, loss of sea ice, glacier retreat, more intense heat waves, stronger hurricanes, and more droughts. They contend that climate change requires immediate international action to prevent dire consequences.

The Heartland Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, and many others, argue that human-generated greenhouse gas emissions are too small to substantially change the earth’s climate. They contend that our forests and oceans are capable of absorbing these small increases, and that 20th century warming has resulted from natural processes including fluctuations in the sun’s heat and ocean currents. They say that global climate change is based on bunk science and scare tactics. Read more…

Climate Change Not the Cause of 2012 Drought, According to New NOAA Study

2012 DroughtOn Mar. 20, 2013, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)Drought Task Force released a new study which found that the 2012 Great Plains drought, the worst US drought since record keeping began in 1895, was the result of “natural variations in weather patterns” and was not caused by “human-induced climate change.”

The 2012 drought, which affected Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota, had previously been widely attributed to climate change.  In his 2013 State of the Union Address President Barack Obama warned that “we can choose to believe that hurricane Sandy, and the most severe drought in decades, and the worst wildfires some states have ever seen were all just a freak coincidence. Or we can choose to believe in the overwhelming judgment of science - and act before it’s too late." 

Dr. Martin Hoerling, senior author for the new NOAA report, "An Interpretation of the Origins of the 2012 Central Great Plains Drought,” stated that although he is an “advocate of global warming… the science also tells that every drought that’s occurring isn’t a result of climate change.”

Is human activity a substantial cause of global climate change?

Is human activity a substantial cause of global climate change?The US National Academies of Science, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and many others, say that greenhouse gas levels are rising due to human activities such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation which are causing significant climate changes including global warming, loss of sea ice, glacier retreat, more intense heat waves, stronger hurricanes, and more droughts. They contend that climate change requires immediate international action to prevent dire consequences.

The Heartland Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, and many others, argue that human-generated greenhouse gas emissions are too small to substantially change the earth’s climate. They contend that our forests and oceans are capable of absorbing these small increases, and that 20th century warming has resulted from natural processes including fluctuations in the sun’s heat and ocean currents. They say that global climate change is based on bunk science and scare tactics. Read more…

Climate Change Made 2012 the Hottest Year in Continental United States Since 1895, NOAA Reports. The NOAA’s US Climate Extremes Index also reported that the occurrence in 2012 of “extreme” weather events, “such as record or near-record warmth, dry spells, or rainy periods,” increased by 19% over the historical average. 2012 was the second most extreme year on record since 1910, and saw 11 disasters that reached the $1 billion threshold in damages.

2012 the hottest year in the U.S since official record-keeping began 

Global Warming

in 1895, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in a press release on Jan. 8, 2013. The average temperature for 2012 was 55.3 degrees Fahrenheit, 3.3 degrees above the 20th century average, and one degree higher than the previous warmest year recorded in 1998.

All 48 states in the contiguous United States had above-average annual temperatures last year, including 19 that broke annual records and an additional 26 that had one of their 10 warmest years. Only Georgia (11th warmest), Oregon (12th warmest), and Washington (30th warmest) had annual temperatures that did not fall in their top tens.

2012’s record warmth is “clearly symptomatic of a changing climate,” said Thomas Karl, Director of NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center. “That doesn’t mean every season and every year is going to be breaking all-time records, but you’re going to see this with increasing frequency.”

Climate Change Made 2012 the Hottest Year in Continental United States Since 1895

Source: procon.org