Transcript Natural Disasters Signature Assign

Climate Change and its
Influence on Diseases and
their Spreading.
By: Haley Larson
What is the root cause of this issue
and why is climate change
occurring?
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Diseases such as bird flu, malaria, and yellow fever can be affected by temperature change in the
climate. Temperature change can affect things like the growth and survival of an infectious agent.
Intense rainfall and humidity are huge influences on causing diseases because they enhance mosquito
breeding and their survival. Most diseases can worsen from climate change and also spread rapidly.
Rainfall, for example, is one of the main causes of the spreading of diseases.
Heavy rainfall and flooding can also increase water born diseases and contaminate fresh water
sources. For example, heavy rainfall and flooding can overflow sewage treatment plants which then
contaminate not only fresh water sources but also crops that many people rely on for food. Storm water
runoff, also created by heavy rainfall, contaminates water bodies such as lakes and beaches that are
used for recreational purposes. The most common disease caused by this is gastroenteritis which is
inflammation of the stomach and intestine that causes vomiting, headaches and fever. Most food born
diseases are created by heat waves. Since bacteria grows more rapidly in warm environments,
salmonella and other food born diseases increase.
Temperature change can also affect food security and threaten human life through malnutrition,
infectious disease spreading and food poisoning.
Climate change, also known as global warming, is occurring because the atmosphere has been
trapping heat radiating from earth, which is also known as the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse
effect is an increase of water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and
other gasses. Over the last 100 years, Earth’s average temperature has increased by 1.4ᵒF. The
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a scientific body established by the United Nations that
provide the most recent scientific, technical and socio-economic information, claims that in the 21st
century the temperature will rise another 2 to 5.2ᵒF.
Where is this occurring and what is
being done to handle the issue?
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Climate change is happening all over the world, not necessarily equally, but it is
affecting us all in one way or another. Low-income and more vulnerable populations
are most at risk. These are places such as India, who experiences periodic malaria
epidemics, and Africa, which is the one of the most vulnerable continents to climate
variability and change. Indigenous groups, or ethnic groups, all over the world such
as Latin and South America, Europe, and Africa, are also experiencing threats from
diseases caused by global climate change.
Some ways we can if not stop, but slow down, global warming are to try and stop all
of the greenhouses gasses that are being but into the air or attempt to take them out
of the air (carbon sequestration). Carbon sequestration is a type of carbon dioxide
removal.
Here is a link to a video to simply describe the process of Carbon Sequestration
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKkql80Sd60
Reflection – From researching this report I learned a lot more then I had knows about Global Warming.
Not only is it just changing the climate but that change is affection things like disease and their
spreading. I wish there was more we could do to help this situation but almost everyone I know is
in denial about global warming and refuse to believe it is happening. There is a lot of evidence to
support it but it just isn't enough to convince everyone to change their lifestyles. I like the idea of
Carbon Sequestration and have never even heard of it before this report. I hope things get better
in the future and people become more aware of this devastation that is occurring from destroying
out planet.
Sources Cited
• Climate Change Leading to Diseases: WHO by
Rahul Verma
• The Deadly Dozen: 12 Diseases Climate
Change May Worsen
• http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/impactsadaptation/health.html
• http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/impactsadaptation/international.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_sequestratio
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• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtfuYlhDjw4