Link Between Climate Change and Our Health
Climate change has a wide-ranging impact. Heatwaves, for example, can blanket entire continents, while flooding can drown significant portions of islands and coastal areas. Some effects are difficult to detect because they occur within our bodies.
This does not make them less hazardous. Over the last few decades, diseases caused by immune system disorders have become more common. For example, nasal allergies in children have more than doubled between 2012 and 2022. Food allergies, which can be fatal, have also increased. Rheumatoid arthritis, a joint condition, has increased by 14% worldwide since 1990. Young people are also growing more susceptible to colorectal cancer.
Of course, climate warming isn’t the lone cause of these health difficulties. Diets heavy in processed foods, lack of exercise, stress, and improved testing procedures all have a role. However, considerable evidence from biology and public health studies suggests that the environment plays an essential role in the emergence of immune-related disorders. I just published a paper in the journal Frontiers in Science with colleagues from the United States and Europe on how climate-related stress affects our immune systems, leading to an increase in immunological-related disorders.
As a doctor and scientist, I feel that we must address the main cause of this immune health catastrophe, which is climate change. Climate change has two main effects on our immune systems: it weakens our bodies’ defenses and makes it more difficult for them to restore themselves.
Consider all the changes that climate change brings to our communities. Wildfires emit small particles called soot into the air, which can be dangerous when inhaled. Floods introduce industrial contaminants into our water, perhaps causing mold to grow in our houses. Warm springs can produce more pollen in the air, aggravating allergies. All of these items damage the tissues in our bodies that protect us from infections, such as our skin and the linings of our stomach and lungs.
But how does climate change make it difficult for us to maintain strong immune systems in the first place? To develop and maintain strong immune systems, humans require a healthy diet and exposure to a variety of bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals. Climate change threatens everything. Warmer climates alter ecosystems, leading some species to migrate or die out. For us, this implies less opportunities to interact with other species, which lowers our immune system.
Our capacity to grow food is also harmed by extreme weather events. This may result in increased hunger and malnourishment, both of which compromise our immune systems. Crops exposed to high airborne carbon dioxide levels may not develop as healthily even when they do. This may have an impact on the nutritional value of meals such as soy, wheat, corn, and rice. Additionally, malnutrition impairs the functionality of our immune systems.
Cellularly, our bodies are exhibiting all of these pressures. Researchers have examined how these exposures impact our bodies, weakening our defenses and upsetting the equilibrium of our immune systems. Chronic inflammation is a result of this and has been connected to a number of illnesses, including cancer.
Scientists know why immune-related disorders are striking an increasing number of people worldwide. What can we do about it, though, is the matter at hand.
The good news is that we have a lot of options.
My colleagues and I discovered in our analysis, which was published in Frontiers in Science, that funding efforts to combat climate change can really result in cost savings for healthcare. Our potential savings in healthcare expenses would be at least $3 for every $1 invested in mitigating climate change. Not to mention the advantages of lessening human misery.
These advantages have previously been demonstrated. Children’s asthma rates decreased in the 1980s and 1990s as a result of American initiatives to minimize air pollution, which improved the quality of the air in regions like Southern California. Similar measures avoided a large number of hospital admissions for asthma in Seoul, South Korea.
Now, we urgently need to put these policies in place on a global scale.
My coworkers and I are advocating for a renewed emphasis on striking a balance between the requirements of our earth and humankind. To cut greenhouse gas emissions from operations like farming, waste management, and transportation, we must move quickly. Investing in sustainable agriculture and food security is also necessary to guarantee that everyone has access to wholesome food. Furthermore, since they support robust immune systems, green areas and natural ecosystems must be preserved.
We can also make changes to housing policies to protect people from extreme weather and indoor pollutants.
But this is more than just us. To combat climate change and safeguard our health, we need governments, scientists, physicians, journalists, and everyone else to work together. All communities are impacted by climate change, although some are more sensitive than others. In order to combat this common threat, we must work together.
Global health issues are already a result of climate change’s devastating force. But we can stop the worst damage if we take action right away.
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