"Inaction on climate change imperils millions of lives, doctors say"

[Kaleva]

"Climate change is set to become the "defining narrative of human health," a top medical journal warned Wednesday - triggering food shortages, deadly disasters and disease outbreaks that would dwarf the toll of the coronavirus. But aggressive efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions from human activities could avert millions of unnecessary deaths, according to the analysis from more than 100 doctors and health experts.....

Rising temperatures have led to higher rates of heat illness, causing farmworkers to collapse in fields and elderly people to die in their apartments. Insects carrying tropical diseases have multiplied and spread toward the poles. The amount of plant pollen in the air is increasing, worsening asthma and other respiratory conditions. Extreme floods and catastrophic storms have boosted the risk of cholera and other waterborne diseases. Smoke from fires in California infiltrates the lungs and then the bloodstreams of people as far away as Texas, Ohio and New York. Droughts intensify, crops fail, hunger stalks millions of the world's most vulnerable people."

https://news.yahoo.com/inaction-climate-change-imperils-millions-225001036.html

I believe the younger of us here at DU will be alive when the worst of it starts approaching so the time to prepare to adapt is now. Given the decades of inaction, I don't think effective steps will be implemented worldwide in time.

[Ron Green]

1. I'm kicking this post because it's the most important topic, and has gone 3 hours

without a response.

DU has become the Jerry Springer Show of political message boards.

[Kaleva]

2. IMHO, the evidence is clear that the chances of successfully combating climate change are small

Very small.

[Ron Green]

3. And I think that, at a deep level, most people know this.

Good liberals try to do something about it, redneck assholes don’t care, many people feel vaguely guilty and look away, and so on. I mean, look at the puny traction of this OP compared to something about MTG, TFG, missing blondes, or Alec Baldwin.

And the truth is way beyond what any of the politicians will say. This really IS the existential crisis, and in years past DU would have been on it with important discussion.

[Kaleva]

5. Avoidance. Like those dying of COVID not being able to believe they will die from it.

[Elessar Zappa]

4. We need to focus

on adaptation since it appears mitigation is unlikely to happen (though I still maintain some hope that we’ll eventually act and avoid a worse case scenario). I’m 37 so I’m likely to see some of the catastrophic changes that are coming.

[Kaleva]

6. In the past, I've asked Admin for a disaster preparedness group

Right now, there's a number of groups which can be applicable on topics discussing for preparing for Climate Change. Gardening, Frugal and Energy Efficient Living, Rural/Farm Life, Permaculture and Transitions Movement, Outdoor Life, Cooking and Baking, Environment and Energy, DIY and Home Improvement, Science, Crafts and there's probably more.

[Celerity]

7. K & R

[hunter]

8. If we had any sense we'd pick a date to quit fossil fuels, say fifteen years from now...

... and then fight to keep that date with the same intensity we fought World War II.

Unfortunately we won't. We'll have to wait for some disaster far, far, worse than the Texas Freeze and Blackout of 2021, Covid-19, or a freak hurricane flattening a major city before climate change displaces the minor distractions from the television news.

[Kaleva]

9. Americans wouldn't have stood for taking thier shoes off at airport security pre-9/11

When the house is on fire is not the time to install smoke detectors on every floor of the home plus the kitchen, install fire extinguishers in the basement, kitchen and upstairs hallway closet, place emergency escape ladders under the beds in each of the upstairs bedrooms, and place carbon monoxide detectors in the living room and upstairs hallway.

The chances of my home catching on fire is very slim but there is a chance so I've done the above.

The odds of the world getting together to mitigate climate change are next to zero, IMHO, so I spend a great deal of time preparing for what reputable sources predict will happen in the area i live in.