What do we talk about when we talk about global warming? It’ll get hotter, that’s a safe bet, polar ice caps will be melting and wildlife that can’t adapt to warmer temperatures could be on the way out. But what does it really mean for the health of us, the human race?
It’s a question that remains surprisingly difficult to answer â?? research into climate change’s impacts on human health have lagged behind other areas of climate science. But what we do know has scientists and doctors increasingly worried â?? a rising risk of death from heat waves, the spread of tropical diseases like malaria into previously untouched areas, worsened water-borne diseases.
“When we think about climate change, we think about ice caps and biodiversity, but we forget about human health,” says Dr. Jonathan Patz, a professor of environmental studies and population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “There are a huge number of health outcomes that are climate sensitive.”