June 2010 was the hottest June on record around the world, besting the 20th century average by 1.22°F. This according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Nat’l Climatic Data Center. What’s more, 2010 is poised to possibly be the hottest year on record. NOAA has regularly collected detailed land and ocean surface temperatures.
Heat waves are an environmental and public health concern. In addition to causing deaths among elderly and other individuals, heat waves threaten food supplies from crop failures and other impacts. They also cause massive amounts of energy use to keep homes and buildings cool. Read how heat waves in the East Coast could become common in the US.
Temperatures are hot here in Washington, DC. So hot that some people are asking whether the heat wave that is currently gripping the East Coast is a sign of climate change. New York, for example, experienced 92 degree heat yesterday, breaking an 81-year record.
Since the 1850s, the hottest decades on record have come within the last 20 years. The 2000′s were the hottest on record, with the 1990′s nipping at their heels for the heat record. The start of the new decade also produced record highs, with January registering as the warmest it has ever been in 32 years of satellite recording. And since Jan. 1 of this year- over 2,100 daily US heat records have been broken! It is disturbing trends like this that have climate scientists and average citizens concerned about climate change, and ready to take action.
So while the heat wave this week may not, on its own, be the result of global warming, it is part of a trend that our climate is changing. And if the continued loss of glaciers at Glacier National Park in Montana is any indication, you should visit your favorite climate threatened locations ASAP.
Increased temperatures and unpredictable rainfall can compromise our food supply.
What is the biggest global health threat of the 21st century? Is it swine Flu? AIDS? Obesity? According to a group of 18 leading doctors from around the world in a recent letter to the British Medical Journal & Lancet it is climate change.
Here are some of the ways that climate change affects human health:
1) Food Supply: Increased temperatures and unpredictable rainfall can reduce crop yields, affect livestock and compromise our food supply.
2) Extreme Weather Events: Climate change may cause more heat waves, cold waves, storms, floods and droughts. This can increase the risk of food and water shortages and water- and food-borne diseases. Heat waves can claim the lives of the weak, and elderly as in Europe’s 2003 summer heat wave which claimed the lives of over 30,000 people.
3) Disease: Many diseases carried by insects such as malaria, and dengue fever thrive in warmer climate conditions and climate changes can prolong and intensify the transmission of these diseases.
4) Air Quality: Warmer temperatures mean a higher frequency of smog which exacerbates respiratory conditions such as asthma and other chronic lung diseases.
In recent years the polar bear has become the prominent face of climate change, but we need to refocus on the human faces affected by the changes in our environment. We must emphasize the children, families and communities whose health will be affected by these changes and concentrate less on the polar bears.
June 2010 was the hottest June on record around the world, besting the 20th century average by 1.22°F. This according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Nat’l Climatic Data Center. What’s more, 2010 is poised to possibly be the hottest year on record. NOAA has regularly collected detailed land and ocean surface temperatures.