Climate change is making us sick (Boston Globe)

[bronxiteforever]

Boston Globe
By Amitha Kalaichandran and M.D.,
Amitha Kalaichandran, M.H.S., M.D., is a physician, epidemiologist, and writer based in Canada.
September 28, 2019

...A warmer planet means more potential for death and illnesses related to higher temperatures. It means lower air quality, especially in densely populated areas. Mosquitoes, ticks, and other carriers of infectious diseases can cover a wider geographic range and for a longer span of the year.

Let’s take Lyme disease: due to global warming, the ticks that carry Lyme are appearing in many more states, notably in the Midwest and in much of Canada. Other vector borne diseases are also likely to increase...Global warming also raises the chances of suffering heat stroke and heat stress, both risk multipliers for heart attacks. Asthma sufferers experience worse symptoms from the additional carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as well as dust and other particulate matter.

Globally, no one is untouched. The WHO compiled a comprehensive set of resources that detail country-specific ways in which climate change affects human health. It estimates that between the years 2030 and 2050, 250,0000 additional deaths globally could be related to climate change, costing billions. The WHO hosted the first humanitarian conference on health and climate change in April.

Earlier this summer, over 70 prominent medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association, called climate change the “greatest public health challenge of the 21st century,” and published a series of recommendations which include reducing greenhouse gases and improving access to clean water. In late August, the Doctors of British Columbia identified climate change as a major health care issue, which was followed by a similar alarm sounded by the Australian Medical Association.

More here
https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2019/09/28/climate-change-making-sick/wowsrlzkcApHnJkaTeoHsJ/story.html

[Marthe48]

1. There are deadly tiny jellyfish moving north

Fire ants, Lion fish, algae blooms, brain-eating bacteria which thrive in the now warmer water of northern lakes, melting permafrost releasing methane.

I feed the birds and squirrels year round, and keep water out for them. The diversity of birds and their numbers are way down this year. So is the number and diversity of insects. The Earth is in such big trouble.

[bronxiteforever]

2. I have noticed a drop in bird and bee population

In my backyard. The diversity of the bird population has changed. I rarely see a goldfinch and just three years back I would have 20 everyday at the feeders. That has struck me as very strange and disturbing.

[Newest Reality]

3. Lesson...

When the West, (in particular) decided that nature was to be conquered and overcome, they may not have had a good sense of the foibles of that kind of an approach to the environment. Maybe a little conquering and overcoming was in order due to what a weak species we are by comparison?

We are subject to the elements and have barely any fur, no sharp claws, rather weak jaws and teeth, mediocre speed, etc. An adult chimpanzee could tear one of us apart limb-by-limb in a few minutes. So, yeah, tools and the big, hungry brain were our best means to survive. Oh, and weapons!

I think most of us can easily live in a purely conceptual ego, encapsulated in a bag of skin and bones and have the delusion that humans and nature are two separate things and not all that interdependent. In fact, we depend more on the environment than it did on us. We have fled into the noosphere and forget that it is supported by the biosphere. Easy mistake to make, but it might prove to be fatal. We have already begun an Anthropocene, 6th-mass extinction. That's something not to come, it is happening right now. So, if we bang ourselves in the head and get out of the separation stupor: oh, gee, all those mammals, birds and insects rapidly dying off...interdependence...oh my! What have we collectively done?

Now, that fiction is coming to its conclusion both by way of pollution, climate and food chains. This is not really surprising; it is more like a directly related and correlated species driven karma. The cause and effect is just becoming obvious because it is reaching its climax, (it has always been there subtly). We don't have an infinite resource, (as of yet) and a bottomless garbage pit, we have a home we live on and in and, like any home, it requires care.

We take care of our homes and yards and family, but trash the entire environment for the sake of a lifestyle that we generally have come to expect and support. Now, how is that going to work out? We will be shifting from growth and innovation for its own sake to whatever it will take to survive now.

What goes around does come around.

[bronxiteforever]

4. +1000 brilliantly written.

[Newest Reality]

5. Thanks for reading it.

It's just an accumulation of my thoughts on the matter.

Of course, maybe it stimulates more thinking and reflection. In these times, that can be useful, even cathartic in a way.

[bronxiteforever]

6. Thinking and reflection are like an

Oasis in these times. Your post certainly got me thinking.