Introduction
The environmental effects of climate change include rising sea levels, air temperatures, and becoming a catalyst for more extreme natural events. Examples of natural disasters already attacking the planet include an increase in wildfires, increased droughts, floods, and wildfires that affect people’s health and lives. Analyzed studies and reviews indicate that climate change leads not only to an increase in natural disasters in the countryside but also to an increase in infectious diseases, respiratory disorders, and mortality.
Societal Effect
Risks caused by climate change mainly arise from extreme weather and climate events. The intersection of physical risks determines the degree of exposure to hazards and the vulnerability of individual communities and people. Natural disasters disrupt the functioning of a community or society and exceed its ability to cope using its resources. Analyzing recent statistics, “Approximately 20% of disasters in 2019 occurred in North America, including the Caribbean and Central America, with total losses of US$55 billion, of which US$29 billion were insured” (Ebi et al., 2021).
However, the number of disasters is increasing every year, and more and more people are falling into the danger zone, increasing the value of property and infrastructure at risk. In addition to the damage to infrastructure, extreme weather events affect people’s health and well-being by affecting entire communities. Due to changes in the climate, people suffer from heat exhaustion or life-threatening injuries during severe storms.
Financial Effect
The increase in morbidity and mortality is mainly due to heat and malnutrition due to a lack of food security. Such a fact is indicated in numerous research; for example, “the latest Lancet Countdown report, which includes a review of 43 indicators of the relationship between climate change and human health, found quite disturbing relationships” (Rocque et al., 2021).
The report emphasizes that the health consequences of climate change continue to worsen, which is proved by yearly statistics (Picture 1). People are facing these consequences more and more often on every continent. The effect of climate change has a disproportionate and uneven impact on the population. The authors of the report warn that such health consequences will continue to worsen if the population does not influence the international response to limit climate change.
Global Warming Outcome
Global warming is considered the main result of climate change. High air temperatures affect all people, mainly those whose activities are carried out in the fresh air. This poses a growing problem for the sports industry as heatstroke is considered the leading cause of sudden death among athletes (Ebi et al., 2021). Disruptions due to extreme weather events cost billions of dollars after years of planning and hundreds of thousands of workers involved in various activities.
Therefore, working between local representatives of publicity and public health will help ensure the readiness of local plans for mass events (Ebi et al., 2021). Such cooperation will help to identify hot spots that are expected to occur in a timely manner and daytime events that may be interrupted due to a probable cataclysm.
Conclusion
Consequently, most systematic reviews and studies identify a strong link between climate change, worsening weather conditions, and a negative impact on disease. The climate tends to change, but the current climate change is due to global warming, which is mainly caused by human activity, which changes the composition of the atmosphere. Such dynamics are worrying, as it is predicted that such results will only increase in the near future. Future research can focus on knowledge gaps by examining other climate-related impacts and broader psychosocial health consequences.
References
Ebi, K. L., Vanos, J., Baldwin, J. W., Bell, J. E., Hondula, D. M., Errett, N. A., Hayes, K., Reid, C. E., Saha, S., Spector, J., & Berry, P. (2021). Extreme weather and climate change: Population health and health system implications. Annual Review of Public Health, 42(1), 293–315. Web.
Rocque, R. J., Beaudoin, C., Ndjaboue, R., Cameron, L., Poirier-Bergeron, L., Poulin-Rheault, R.-A., Fallon, C., Tricco, A. C., & Witteman, H. O. (2021). Health effects of climate change: An overview of systematic reviews. BMJ Open, 11(6), e046333. Web.