Climate Change Is Already Impacting Our Health

Massive storms, flooding, extreme heat, droughts, air pollution, increased rates of disease, changes to our food and water… global warming, and the changes to climate that come with it, are increasing human health risks. Our physical and mental health both stand to suffer, and some populations are more vulnerable than others. What are the specific health issues, what can we do to address them, and most importantly – is there any hope?

We hope to answer these questions and more in a handful of episodes on Climate Change and Health. This year, we’re going to be taking a look at how Climate Change can impact health.

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Credits:
Aaron Carroll -- Writer
Tiffany Doherty -- Writer and Script Editor
John Green -- Executive Producer
Stan Muller -- Director, Producer
Mark Olsen – Art Director, Producer

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[ojiverdeconfleco]

I was hoping you guys would cover this intersection of climate change/crisis and health, thank you!!

[Praisethesunson]

The animals that carry Leishmaniasis are finally able to live in my area of the U.S. we started having our first cases of the disease in 2012. Thanks climate change!

[joshuahere]

I didn’t know that a licensed doctor badge existed in YouTube? Very nice

[ToriDO]

Dr. Carroll does a good job of highlighting some of the major effects climate change is already having on health. There are definitely more cases of direct effects of increased temperatures - just look at the heatwaves from summer 2022, which broke heat records and resulted in thousands of deaths. But there are so many effects down the line that are potentially even more dangerous. Mosquitos have increased rates of reproduction with every degree that the earth increases, and they spread further than ever before. Air pollution causes millions of deaths annually. The healthcare system is going to have a difficult time keeping up with all of these effects, just due to sheer volume. It’s going to be more difficult for healthcare workers to maintain ethical justice. Medical justice is the fair and equitable distribution of health resources. As Dr. Carroll mentioned, there are already many people without the means to compensate for the complications arising due to climate change. The systems in place currently violate this ethical principle as low resource countries are hit harder by climate disasters. It is the duty of healthcare professionals to treat everyone fairly regardless of their background or ability to pay, but as resources dwindle with climate change, how can fair distribution of care be maintained? This is something that we have to address as these issues only worsen.

[SterbiusMcGurbius]

Fossil fuels and the prosperity it brings to industrialized societies have led to much better health outcomes. As we move to greener energy we must remember that prosperity is what brings the greatest health outcomes.

[OldScientist]

Propaganda. Methane (CH4) is only 0.00019% (1.9 parts per million) of the atmosphere. Both of its narrow absorption bands occur at wavelengths where H2O is already absorbing substantially. Hence, any radiation that CH4 might absorb has already been absorbed by H2O. With the concentration of water vapour in the atmosphere being between 1, 000 and 20, 000 times greater than CH4, the effects of CH4 are completely masked by H2O.

[timothygardner]

While the significant, sometimes cataclysmic, impacts and consequences of climate change are frequently mentioned during any discussion of the topic, i.e. rising sea levels swallowing coastal towns, methane gases obliterating our ozone layer, I find it refreshing to come across a video that relays the day-to-day daily impacts that these changes have on all of us, some of us with even greater significance. This is not to diminish the very real threat of long-term climate impacts, but that a degrading and detrimental environment to the human ecosystem can absolutely hasten these consequences! That aside, the implications of climate change already have very real effects on some of the most common health issues we face as a society. Respiratory syndromes across the board, with specific emphasis on conditions such as asthma and other constrictive airway diseases, can be exponentially worsened in populations that are subject to daily air pollutants. With an ever increasing global temperature, air pollutants tend to take longer to dissipitate and the vicious cycle continues. And this is just one example of very common place health concerns being affected by climate change. The less that is done to combat it, the more likely that moderately controlled health issues may become ever more pervasive.

[nicokremers]

And Now for Something Completely Different. - Monty Python

[therabbithat]

3:48 I love that dress/top, what do you call an item of clothing like that?

[thiefoftrust]

I'm really interested in this topic, but I'm having trouble hearing Aaron with the sound level being so quiet. I'll come back in a day or two and they'll probably have updated the video with better sound.

[平和-vz]

Thank you for rising awareness about this!

[hlnbee]

We’ve had solar panels on our roof for several years.

[abhaydenis]

This individual cares about our species but has not addressed that the economic mode: market capitalism, is indeed the actual problem. It should be understood by individuals that systems change is a transition we can no longer keep avoiding. If effective policy and legislation pushed by "moral and caring politicians" were enough then why are countries failing to meet the Paris Agreement, failing to reduce dependency on hydrocarbons. Hence increased investment in hydrocarbon, and its applications. Hence why we as a civilisation are on track for 1.5 degrees of warming AND MORE HORROR. Reduction in hydrocarbon use and a transition to cheaper renewable energy systems, and increased automation and by that abundance, would simply reduce the need for these false positions: monarchs, politician, and all businessmen, and high risk labour, and reduce the work a day week. Something our dear oligarchs are afraid of. Loss of power.

It should be known that class stratification and the resulting divide of the "have and have nots" produces unequal income, increased conflict, and produces all manner of epidemiological problems by country. We the people must actively protest for out systems change, not in systems change. The aristocratic and technocratic class will not give up their reward feedback loop, and will not reduce the conditional reinforcers that reward their operation and position. Therefore by default this video isn't for those who can acquire enough income, and agency to improve their worth to exist because our system makes people sick. They cannot reinvigorate their physical and mental health.

We have to be able to challenge the validity of the systems we live, and whether its producing viable outcomes.



We can take the YouTube video on its merits. This individual clearly cares but his suggestions on who or how some help or change occurs are for an audience who have the income and agency, and is in systems ideas, which at best produce patch work and catharsis. The systems demographic, by default, is for those who have the money to improve. He can only suggest some ideas, or ways to help but you cannot do that without money. Therefore the 3.4 billion members of humanity who struggle to meet their basic needs will never be able to take this advice. The kind of change required must be at the system level, and by improvement I mean transition into a more viable system.

[DavidWestwater-vqqy]

Climate change is not affecting my health

[shadeshiest]

Not one mention about the Ohio chemical spill…unreal

[OldScientist]

Propaganda. There are over 5 million excess deaths per annum globally due to abnormal temperatures from the 2000-2019 study led Prof. Guo of Monash University. It found that over 90% of excess deaths were caused by excess COLD rather than excess heat. This applied globally including in the hottest continent, Africa. So, in a world with increasingly mild temperatures, there will be less excess death. Warming is good not bad.

[OldScientist]

Propaganda. Between 1961 and 2021 cereal production increased 250% and cereal yield increased over 200%. Land used for cereal hardly increased (Data from World Bank, FAO/UN). This is the only time in human history that you are more likely to be overfed rather than underfed. We should be thankful we were borne into an age of such abundance.

[charlespentrose]

Sadly there are a lot of people who refuse to consider that climate change is real and we need to do something about it. They'd rather keep driving their pollution spewing cars without concern, consuming without a care - all while being told by businesses with a vested interest in not being help accountable for the harm they're causing to the environment.

[PhysicsPolice]

Volume way, way too quiet. You guys need a real sound engineer.

[Dr.Gehrig]

Glad to see you discussing this issue, though I would have preferred a bit longer of a video, including more on the solutions. Also, I feel like this video is more than a bit late, one would have hoped to have seen this sort of thing after over 200 medical journals made an emergency call to action for medical professionals in September 2021.