Effects of global warming on human health

GLOBAL WARMING

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Global warming is a sustained rise in the temperature on the earth’s surface caused by an imbalance in the dissipation of heat absorbed from the sun. The ozone layer fails to allow excess sunlight to be reflected outside of the atmosphere and back into space due to the presence of contaminants in the atmosphere. These contaminants are referred to as greenhouse agents or simply greenhouse gases.

Effects of global warming on human health

The ambient temperatures of the earth’s atmosphere impact on human health in many ways. The average planet planetary temperatures have been observed to be on a steady increase for the last half century and the effects of intolerable heat within the globe have started being manifested through heat waves. A number of people have been killed by these heat waves in some parts of Asia and Australia.

Temperature influences climatic conditions in a big way. So much that extreme temperature changes caused by global warming is affecting the normal precipitation cycles and forming more intense weather phenomena (Baer & Singer, 2009). Scientists have observed a correlation between global warming and extreme weather phenomena that have harmful effects on human health. This is evidenced through reduced clean water after storms and tsunamis, pollution of fresh water via mixing with sewerage effluent during adverse weather conditions leading to gastrointestinal illnesses.

Global warming has been blamed for the presence of lower level ozone in the atmosphere. As a component of smog, especially in urban areas, this pollutant is directly associated with increased chest and upper respiratory tract infections. The effect of sunlight on fine particles of naturally occurring gaseous material in the environment such as sulfur dioxide turns them into more harmful components that seriously compromise human health especially in terms of the chest, eyes and upper respiratory tract.

In terms of the proliferation of disease causing vectors, global warming has a direct relationship with increased salmonella outbreaks during periods of high temperatures. In addition, when flooding has taken place, and fresh water becomes polluted, giardia and Cryptosporidium are observed to thrive causing increased tummy illnesses.

Effects of global warming on agriculture and food supply

The temperature effects of global warming have a direct effect on crop production leading to destruction of vast fields of agricultural produce due to temperature ranges that exceed the crop’s optimum survival range.

In addition, droughts and famine could affect the livestock farmer’s ability to produce enough animal products for human consumption. Certain areas in the US have reported thousands of animal losses through famine, heat waves and inadequate pastures to feed their animals.

Alternative source of human food and agriculture too are not spared. Fisheries in many parts of the world dry up during the dry seasons and famine caused or increased by global warming. Bee keeping, which is particularly sensitive to ambient temperature range and flowers during the rainy season, suffers due to global warming (Mendelsohn & Dinar, 2009).

Effects of global warming on forests

Global warming ironically seems to favor forest growth and spread. Carbon dioxide, an important component of the plant’s photosynthetic process is on the increase due to global warming and given the right amount of rain, nutrients and time, this greenhouse gas could increase the forest’s growth rate.

Global warming seems to affect the geography of tree cover due to rises in global temperature negating the range some species are used to grow. Casper (2010), reports the “loss of some pine species climatic confinement to the tropical region” (pg. 64). This is also getting affected by the amount of precipitation falling which has changed drastically over the course of the last half century. Snow melts earlier leading to more rain and even flooding affecting the forests’ natural patterns of regenerations.

Effects of global warming such as wild fires, insect outbreaks and storms area direct danger to forests as evidenced by the numerous instances these impacts of global warming have decimated large tracts of forest cover.

Effects of global warming on adaptation

Adaptation, which is the collective effort of a society in preparing for any unexpected climatic eventuality, has not escaped the wrath of global warming. More tolerable food and cash crops are currently bio-engineered. Additionally, immense structures are being constricted at major urban centers as well as more efforts to stow away food for the people.

Normal human adaptive processes have in light of global warming been interrupted by more resilient and inclusive activities. A good example would be the adoption of more resilient crop species as due to the increases observed in ambient temperatures, rainfall patterns and diseased or animal impact on their numbers.

The ecosystem is also more reactive to global warming effects currently than ever before. We can find sign of this in the hydrological cycle’s assumption of more energy-efficient channels of drainage to avoid the loss of kinetic energy that stagnates water causing its freezing. Some neighboring ecosystems migrate much later to take advantage of food, shelter, water, and weather condition as much as possible.

References

Baer, H. A., & Singer, M. (2009). Global warming and the political ecology of health: Emerging crises and systemic solutions. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.

Casper, J. K. (2010). Impact of forests. In Changing ecosystems: Effects of global warming (p. 64). New York: Facts on File.

Mendelsohn, R. O., & Dinar, A. (2009). Climate change and agriculture: An economic analysis of global impacts, adaptation and distributional effects. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.