Global Warming | Health Effects

Health Effects of Global Warming

According to popular belief, the world is getting warmer every day. Scientists are of the opinion that the temperature of the globe has increased by at least 3 to 5 degrees over the past few centuries. Though difficult to attribute global warming effect to any one phenomenon, most scientists call this phenomenon the green house effect and attribute it to the increasing quantities of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The atmosphere is largely transparent to incoming short-wave solar radiation, which is absorbed by the Earth’s surface. Much of this radiation is then re-emitted at infrared wavelengths, but reflected back by gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, halocarbons and ozone in the atmosphere.

Fatal heating effect of global warming resulting in health issues

Gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect, such as methane and chlorofluorocarbons, are increasing faster and the net effect of these increases could be a worldwide rise in temperature, estimated at 2° to 6° C (4° to 11° F) over the next century.

Warming of this magnitude could mean climatic changes on a world level, affecting crop production and causing sea levels to rise significantly. If this happens, millions of people would be adversely affected, displaced by major flooding and suffer injuries to life and limb.

It is widely believed that the global mean temperature could increase from 1.4 degrees to 5.8 degrees centigrade by the year 2100 and this could translate into heat and health related issues for the populace unaccustomed or ill-prepared for this change. The effects of such a change in temperature of environment could bring about more frequent extreme high maximum temperatures and less frequent low minimum temperatures.

The most obvious impact of global warming will be the heat and cold waves. These will lead to an increase in the number of deaths of both human and animals. The other health effects of weather-related disasters, and that is addition to immediate death and injury to people, are the increase in the occurrences of depression and psychological stress.

Human health effects of global warming- ambivalent issue
Changes in the environment due to global warming could lead to probable drought conditions caused by scarce rainfall, which could ultimately result in decreases in nutrition levels due to poorer harvests and improper distribution of food. If winter temperatures rise there may be fewer premature deaths due to winter cold. But if summer temperatures also rise there may be additional fatalities from heat stress. The pattern of the world’s diseases may also change. Diseases such as malaria, eradicated from Europe, could return to some areas. Many scientists warn of health effects of extreme weather events such as storms, tornadoes, hurricanes and precipitation extremes that could lead to destruction of property and flooding bringing with it diseases such as malaria and dengue and yellow fever.

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Health Effects of Global Warming

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