Introduction
Climate Change is a complex issue of the current time, and individuals are reaching a tipping point. Climate change’s repercussions are worldwide and unparalleled in scale, ranging from altering weather events that jeopardize food security to increasing sea levels that raise the likelihood of devastating floods. Greenhouse emissions happen naturally and are critical for human existence and the longevity of several other living organisms on Earth, as they prevent some of the sun’s heat from bouncing back into the atmosphere, so rendering the planet habitable.
However, industrialization, destruction, and large-scale cultivation have resulted in unprecedented greenhouse gas levels in the ecosystem. Climate change compromises the achievement of global health coverage in several ways, including worsening the underlying risk of illness and aggravating existing challenges in obtaining care, frequently at the most critical times. Additionally, climate change is eroding many health predictors, including incomes, fairness, and access to essential care services and support networks.
Background Information
Recurrent flooding and rising water levels in Milwaukee’s waterways and great lakes have captivated the press’s and Wisconsin town’s concern as residents cope with the consequences. The explanation for this water table roller coaster is multifaceted, but it is connected to a general trend of variable weather and climatic occurrences. Global warming has increased temperatures in Wisconsin, including more rainfall over a shorter period, resulting in flooding.
These concurrent effects of increased heat and floods are likely to raise the risk of heat exhaustion, bronchitis, and insect-borne infections. Climate change’s medical repercussions on Wisconsin residents are beginning to appear and will only grow as the worldwide situation deteriorates, especially among children, the elderly, and the immunocompromised. Increased lake levels have negatively impacted the Milwaukee area, particularly downstream, where the rivers converge in the Milwaukee delta. Numerous downtown riverside companies were forced to close due to flooding caused by high water levels, while others are pumping water out of basements on a near-constant basis.
Flooding problems
Flooding has become the most common sort of major catastrophe in recent years. Over the years, floodwaters have claimed many lives and displaced millions of individuals globally (Adeel et al. 1). As with other significant occurrences or emergencies, the consequences for an individual’s health, connections, and wellbeing can be severe. However, flooding differs from other emergencies, and it is frequently possible to avoid flooding through flood-prevention initiatives (Fadda 78). Since the healing process is prolonged, increasing the risk of secondary stressful situations emanating and the repercussions of nervousness about recurrence in flood-affected individuals.
Additionally, climate change’s effects are predicted to boost the frequency of flooding. Increased downpour as a result of climate change is anticipated to make floodwaters more common and destructive. Describing the psychosocial consequences of floods can profoundly influence people’s wellness, connections, and cognitive functioning (Tong e124). Flooding can create significant social and welfare difficulties that can persist for a longer length of time due to the flooding itself and as a result of subsequent stressors that occur when people attempt to reclaim their lives, possessions, and partnerships (Fadda 78). Flooding can test even the most resilient individuals’ psychosocial resilience.
Flooding has become more prevalent in Wisconsin as changing climate progress and the intensity of rain falls over a shorter period. Flooding has contributed to various health problems among the residents of Milwaukee, including polluted surface water, breathing problems induced by mold in dwellings, toxic algal outbreaks, and an upsurge in the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases. There is widespread evidence of emerging and recurring vector-borne contagious diseases, particularly dengue fever, malaria, and diarrhea.
Other communicable diseases, such as listeriosis, cholera, and giardiasis, may experience an increase in epidemics due to rising temperatures and flooding (Wu et al. 15). Wisconsin residents who reside in Milwaukee and depend on well water are most vulnerable to water pollution due to flooding. Municipal water supplies, on the other hand, are in jeopardy.
The treatment procedures used by public utilities vary significantly by county and may not adequately sterilize their water against specific microorganisms. Those who reside in flood-prone areas are also in danger of the plethora of health concerns associated with the excessive downpour. Floods can compromise even medical establishments as these disasters grow more regularly in Wisconsin. Therefore, with no preventive measures to help salvage the Wisconsin county’s situation, citizens living within the state of Wisconsin, including Milwaukee residents, are at higher risks of continuous displacements and health threats.
Increase in heat and rain
A catastrophic excessive heat event does not have a standard definition. Over half of the United States of America’s population resides in cities. These individuals experience a spike in high heat events due to the global impacts of urban heat islands and rising temperatures linked to climate change. Researchers have found that sudden temperature fluctuations, including both winter storms and increased temperatures, directly impact the frequency of hospitalizations, morbidity, and deaths (de Lorenzo and Fernando 493). Extreme heat kills an average of 650 people in the United States annually, making it the most deadly meteorological phenomenon and one that is occurring increasingly frequently (de Lorenzo and Fernando 493). Heat exhaustion and exhaustion can result from these dangerously high temperatures during these periods.
Older adults who are socially excluded are particularly susceptible to adverse heat occurrences since they are less efficient at dissipating heat physically. Additionally, many have underlying health conditions, are on dehydrating drugs, and have mobility problems (Carter et al. 2). Poverty-stricken individuals may have minimal access to fresh-air ventilation, cooling, and medical treatment, increasing their sensitivity to intense heat (Reischl et al. 3).
Many of the heat-related mortalities in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, in 1995 happened in regions with a high percentage of impoverished individuals (Christenson et al. 1). According to the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts research, extreme heat occurrences are anticipated to grow more common, become durable, and are regionally extensive (Neset et al. 113). By the middle of the century, it is estimated that Wisconsin inhabitants will endure additional weeks of higher daytime temperatures ((Neset et al. 110). Amid these transformations, public health experts and concerned individuals will be tasked with safeguarding the most disadvantaged populations.
Though Wisconsin is well-known for its bitter winters, excessive heat claims more lives in the county than all other natural catastrophes altogether, including hurricanes, floods, and snowstorms. Just as the human species can die of hypothermia in extreme cold, it can also cease to function effectively in the presence of excessive heat. Therefore, increased temperature variations can have a disastrous effect on human health, especially on children, the elderly, and pre-existing medical issues. As such, excessive heat should be a concern for both Milwaukee dwellers and rural areas that already experience days with greater temperatures.
Conclusion
In conclusion, people throughout the globe will be put in danger by climate change, which has been highlighted as the primary threat to global health. Milwaukee residents in Wisconsin are at a more significant threat of floods and excessive heat due to climate change within the United States. From the discussion, flooding and extreme heat conditions experienced in Milwaukee have had detrimental effects on residents living there. For instance, due to flooding, Milwaukee inhabitants have seen a rise in mosquito-borne infections, contaminated surface water, and breathing difficulties caused by mildew in their homes.
High temperatures kill more people than any other natural disaster, including severe storms, floods, and blizzards combined. Christenson et al. enumerated that Wisconsin is frequently subjected to extremely high summer temperatures and is not impervious to heat-related morbidity and death rates (1). In 1995, Christenson et al. established that extreme heat killed 154 individuals in Wisconsin (1). To achieve and sustain good global warming, it is vital to integrate population health into climate change regulation and increase cross-sector cooperation among researchers, medical practitioners, health authorities, and regulators.
Rising average temperatures and more frequent and intense heat waves have a significant influence in terms of death tolls and societal healthcare costs. Therefore, a combination of preventive measures, monitoring, and checking on disadvantaged people is necessary for public health strategies to ensure the safety of vulnerable people. Climate change adaptation and mitigation should be promoted to the general public, elected officials, and healthcare providers to spur new scientific study and development. Consequently, the emergency response authorities of Milwaukee and Wisconsin should work together to develop appropriate floods and excessive heat mitigation strategies. These tactics should help reduce the two variables’ impact on residents’ lives within their localities.
Works Cited
Adeel, Zafar, et al. “Developing a Comprehensive Methodology for Evaluating Economic Impacts of Floods in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.” International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, Vol. 50, 2020, pp. 1-17.
Carter, Timothy R., et al. “Characterizing Vulnerability of the Elderly to Climate Change in the Nordic Region.” Regional Environmental Change, Vol. 16, no. 1, 2016, 2-16.
Christenson, Megan, et al. “Heat Vulnerability Index Mapping for Milwaukee and Wisconsin.” Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, Vol. 23, no. 4, 2017, 1-8.
de Lorenzo, Alberto, and Fernando Liaño. “High Temperatures and Nephrology: The Climate Change Problem.” Nefrología, Vol. 37, no. 5, 2017, 492-500.
Fadda, Jazla. “Climate Change: An Overview of Potential Health Impacts Associated with Climate Change Environmental Driving Forces.” Renewable Energy and Sustainable Buildings, 2020, pp. 77-119.
Neset, Tina-Simone, et al. “Map-based Web Tools Supporting Climate Change Adaptation.” The Professional Geographer, Vol. 68, no. 1, 2016, 103-114.
Reischl, Christiane, et al. “Urban Vulnerability and Adaptation to Heatwaves: A Case Study of Graz (Austria).” Climate Policy, Vol. 18, no. 1, 2018, pp. 63-75.
Tong, Shilu. “Flooding-related Displacement and Mental Health.” The Lancet Planetary Health, Vol. 1, no. 4, 2017, pp. e124-e125.
Wu, Xiaoxu, et al. “Impact of Climate Change on Human Infectious Diseases: Empirical Evidence and Human Adaptation.” Environment International, Vol. 86, 2016, pp. 14-23.