Study: Rising temps pose health risks

Annapolis (Map, News) - Left unabated, rising temperatures across Maryland and around the globe will pose ever-greater public health risks, according to a report released Tuesday by a local environmental organization.

The study by the Environment Maryland Research & Policy Center concluded that the rise in average surface temperatures over the past 50 years — an estimated third of a degree per decade — will continue to spur “droughts, floods, heat waves, water stress and coastal flooding in the United States.”

“Throw out the record books, because global warming is raising temperatures in Maryland and across the country,” Environment Maryland spokeswoman Desirae Vasquez said Tuesday.

Environment Maryland based its conclusions on data taken from weather stations nationally over the past seven years.

“I think it is incumbent on public health departments and practitioners to mount an effective response to heat deaths,” said Brenda Afzal, director of health programs at the University of Maryland School of Nursing.

Afzal warned that without pre-emptive measures to reduce greenhouse emission, medical practitioners could only mitigate, and not eliminate, the health effects of heat waves and volatile environmental phenomena.

“I personally don’t think we can ever have an adequate response,” Afzal said. “Good public health is prevention.”

Dr. Daniel Kirk-Davidoff, a professor from the University of Maryland’s Department of Atmospheric Science, called on policy-makers to introduce economic incentives for industry to reduce greenhouse emissions.

“We can take steps today to building that economy one power plant at a time,” Kirk-Davidoff said.

Del. Dana Stein, D–District 11, in attendance at the event, said the mechanisms for reversing global warming already exist but require government support at the state and federal level.

“Generally, global warming is one of those problems where it’s a gathering storm, but the full impact of it is down the line,” Stein said.

jdavisson@baltimoreexaminer.com

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