What do allergies, heart attacks, salmonella outbreaks, and depression have in common? Give up? Well, most Americans don’t know either, according to an October report from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication.
The answer is that they’re all symptoms of a warming planet – just some of the health problems that experts say we can expect as temperatures rise.
But when the Yale Project asked Americans what climate change has to do with their health, the nation basically flunked. Only one in four respondents could name a health problem related to global warming. Of those, only 5% could identify a consequence other than respiratory conditions, like asthma, or harm from extreme weather conditions, like heat stroke.
Unfortunately, the list of potential ailments is much longer.
The World Health Organization predicts that climate change will cause 250,000 additional deaths per year around the globe between 2030 and 2050, primarily from malaria, diarrhea, heat exposure and malnutrition.
The health threat will be worse in developing nations, where people are generally more exposed to the elements and advanced medical care and sanitation are less available. But studies show that Americans won’t be exempt, especially those who live in the nation’s low-income communities, children and the elderly.
theguardian
