Taylor Yurasits: How does Climate Change affect our Health?

 Hi everyone! My name is Taylor Yurasits and I am from Lehighton Pennsylvania. I will be a uprising junior at York College Pennsylvania studying Forensic Chemistry and working towards a minor in Criminal Justice. My interest in climate change increased from understanding how it affects different parts of the world and how it affects the human body. I am very excited to be part of this journey and COP 22!

Over the years, the earth has beginning to increase in temperature which is also causing the temperatures to rise throughout the world. The cause of this is the excessive emission of greenhouses gases into our air we breathe. There has been more and more heat waves that last longer over time that are causing fatal health affects to our body. Studies have shown that approximately in the United States, more than 1,300 deaths are because of extreme heat. Since climate change has been progressing, the mortality rate for extreme heat has been much greater than extreme cold. The mortality rate is expected to increase because of the earth's temperature continuing to grow. Studies have shown there is an increase in infant deaths throughout the world and will continue to rise. Climate change is projected to start affecting the respiratory system, hormones, urinary system, genitals. Not only does climate change cause death but scientists expect there to be an increase in heat stroke, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, cerebrovascular disease, and kidney disorders. The extreme heat is also affecting other problems. For example the quality of the air is changing throughout the world. This can lead to an increase in allergens. Poor air quality will cause more diseases to arise and faster spread of disease will increase.  Our body is trying to adapt to the warmer weather but climate change is happening too fast we cannot catch up.
 

The picture above is showing the projected deaths that are caused from the warming of the Earth's core. In April and September, there are several areas that have a predicted 100.1 to 150.0 million deaths and 150.0 to 201.0 million deaths. These are the results intended for the year 2100 by using a baseline from 1990. The amount of deaths that are predicted to be affected by climate change can be controlled if we control the temperature increase. The previous Conference of Parties was held in Paris, France in 2015. The parties discussed the Paris Agreement, which is to limit the temperature increase to 1.5ᵒC, and at least 55 countries had to join for the agreement to become legal. 174 countries signed the agreement in New York on April 22nd, 2016. 

Resources:

U.S. Global Change Research Program.  Temperature-Related Death and Illness.   https://health2016.globalchange.gov/temperature-related-death-and-illness