The problem of climate change on the planet is a popular topic for discussion at different levels. Despite its popularity, there is a lack of sufficient awareness in society about how climate change affects health. Meanwhile, for quite a long time, it significantly influences its environmental determinants.
Climate change may leave many Americans without a home and drinking water. The reason for this lies in the growing number of floods, which, according to experts, will influence the lives of 20 million Americans. Rising sea levels threaten the integrity of buildings, drinking water supplies, and can also harm the sewage system.
The increase in extreme heat is the cause of the greatest number of deaths caused by weather conditions. About 1300 people die from heat every year. The growth of intensity and duration of high temperature causes many diseases, the cost of treatment of which is estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars per year.
Extreme weather events negatively modify the fertility of the soil, which loses fertility over the years. As a result, people from many regions can already see significant declines in yield indicators. The loss in soil fertility also affects the life of animals. Many species become close to extinction because of their inability to adapt their nutrition to the changes in flora (MacLean, 2020). The problem of under-feeding of the population for climatic reasons will continue to gain its scale.
Thus, the concern of the impact of climate change on human health has lost its abstract character. Every year, scientists publish horrifying figures reflecting the economic damage caused by the destruction of the environmental determinants of human health. All these examples show that the issue of climate change requires immediate action.
References
MacLean, A. (2020). Impact: The effect of climate change on coastlines (1st ed.). Birkhäuser.