Global warming blamed for increased human misery and death

May 20, 5:50 PMSeattle Environmental Policy ExaminerJean Williams

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The impact on human suffering and rising death toll related to extreme heat and extreme cold, has been increasing every year and according to experts in the field of public health, it will continue to get worse.

The global warming disbelievers will tell you that increased wild fires, floods, hurricanes, diseases, melting ice caps, and other climate related calamities, are all a “natural” occurrence, which is happening as the result of a “natural” cycle. The problem with that philosophy, is that there is nothing natural about 6 billion people living in industrialized nations, spewing out tons of pollutants into the atmosphere every day. Common sense would dictate that human activity on this grand of a scale was not a part of the equation in previous cooling or warming periods centuries ago.

The rise of human mortality and diseases in relation to climate change is happening in real time and the swine flu outbreak is one of the most recent examples. The origins of the virus was believed to be from a pig farm in Mexico, in an area where heat and dust were known to be increasingly extreme.

In October, 2008, the Wildlife Conservation Society, named the “deadly dozen” diseases that could be more virulent and spread more intensely, as a ramification of weather and climate changes. The list includes avian flu, which is one of the three genetic components of the Mexico swine influenza, along with human and swine genetic presence.

According to Steven Sanderson, head of the Wildlife Conservation Society, “even minor (climate) disturbances can have far reaching consequences on diseases”. He added, “The term ‘climate change’ conjures images of melting ice caps and rising sea levels that threaten coastal cities and nations, but just as important is how increasing temperatures and fluctuating precipitation levels will change the distribution of dangerous pathogens”.

The World Health Organization released a report earlier this year based on research conducted at University of Wisconsin at Madison and published in the science journal Nature. The report indicated that in addition to human mortality rates increasing there are also approximately 5 million illnesses every year attributed to climate change and CO2 greenhouse emissions. These can range from infectious diseases such as malaria and diarrhea, to chronic respiratory problems. This global warming link to human mortality was backed up by a study done at Stanford University.

Research has indicated that 150,000 deaths can already be connected to global warming and that number could double by 2030, even if measures are taken to cut CO2 immediately.

The Pacific Northwest stands to be one of the hardest hit areas by weather related deaths. In the past two years, Interstate 5 at Chehalis/Centralia, had to be closed off, due to unprecedented flooding. Four major rivers flooded, causing billions of dollars in damage. The area had intense and record breaking wind, rain, thunder, and snow storms. Wildfires have increased dramatically, due to hotter summer conditions, and influenced by invasions of tree-killer pine beetles and insects drawn to drier environments. The acreage burned in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana forest fires, could double by the year 2040, according to a University of Washington report published in 2007.

In addition to death and disease, the past few years have shown an increase in the potency of poison oak and poison ivy, which can cause weeks of itching and misery to people who come in contact with the leaves of the plants or any other surface, such as clothing or pets, that may have had contact.

One recent study at Duke University discovered urushiol oil found in the leaves are 30% more potent than oil exposed to lower CO2 levels. Toxicity of poison in plants like poison ivy has reached all time highs, much elevated from decades ago. Urushiol is present in all poison ivy plants at all times of the year, but the majority of reactions occur in the spring or early summer when poison ivy leaves are tender and easily bruised. The noxious substance is found on the plant's leaves, stems, fruit, flowers and roots.

Recent M.I.T median projections is worse than previously anticipated for the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide in 2095, which is now estimated to be  a jaw-dropping 866 ppm.

But the reality is that deaths related to global warming and climate change are happening now, not fifty or a hundred or a thousand years from now, when most of the current population will be gone. Real people are losing their lives on a daily basis from fighting wild fires, disease, heat and cold extremes, flood victim drowning, and other deadly weather scenarios related to climate change.

If global warming disbelievers want to call all of this “natural”, while the planet’s temperature blazes on, that is their prerogative.

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Could swine flu be caused by climate change?

Disappearing arctic ice dire for coastal cities

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Rush limbaugh, global warming, and susceptable conservatives

All Copyright Jean Williams 2009