We Just Saw Climate Change in Action
The threat to human health and safety is not some distant worry.
Climate change is often thought of synonymously with global warming, so heat waves and heat deaths get much of the media ink. Deservedly so. In fact I wrote recently about the misery of 100 straight days of 100+ degrees this summer in Phoenix, as heat waves continue to burden people around the globe. Excess heat, even when it does not kill a person, can be simply miserable, forcing entire populations indoors where, if they are fortunate enough to have air conditioning, they can cool off while using energy that contributes to additional global warming.
But the risks to human health and safety caused or exacerbated by our warming world go far beyond raw heat.
Hurricane Helene is a here-and-now example of the extreme weather predicted by models of climate change. Record-warm sea-surface temperatures fueled Helene’s rapid intensification from a Category 1 hurricane on Wednesday to a monster Category 4 storm by the time it made landfall in Florida Thursday night. The hurricane also picked up more moisture than normal, thanks to the warmer-than-normal water, contributing to greater inland flooding.
Powerful hurricanes like Helene, which intensify rapidly and dump more rain than past hurricanes, have already become more common—some experts are suggesting we need a new 6th category to describe the most dangerous hurricanes—and computer models predict such superstorms will only get worse as the planet continues to warm.
I did a deep dive into the science of all this, on our sister site, Aha! Science:
Stronger hurricanes are just one way global warming threatens human safety and well-being. Our warmer world intensifies weather year-round, creating stronger rainstorms and snowstorms, and drier and longer droughts. One study predicts further warming will bring 100-year floods to a given location every 10 to 15 years, and possibly even more frequently.
You’ve probably heard that ocean levels are rising, too. That’s due to melting glaciers and because water expands as it warms. In parts of Florida and other low-lying communities, seawater now sometimes floods streets on perfectly clear days.
And yes, raw heat kills too — about 150,000 people a year die globally due to heat-related causes. More than 47,000 people died due to heat last year in Europe, a study last month concluded. A recent analysis suggests that if the planet warms by 3 degrees Celsius by the end of this century, which is predicted if industrial emissions aren’t reigned in, annual heat deaths in Europe could triple.
“We find that deaths in Europe from hot and cold temperatures will rise substantially as many more heat-related deaths are expected to occur as the climate warms and populations age, while deaths from cold decline only slightly in comparison,” said study team member David García-León, of the Joint Research Centre at the European Commission.
Last year, Wise & Well produced a special report, Extreme Heat and Human Health, which enumerated the many ways rising temperatures are affecting our collective well-being, from making people more irritable to simply overheating and killing people through dehydration and heat exhaustion, while giving disease-carrying mosquitoes ever-better breeding conditions.
I know, I know. There are plenty of threats to human well-being, and at least as many other things to worry about these days. But it’s important to acknowledge that our societal actions (and inaction) can have long-term climate consequences, and those consequences are here now.
That’s enough of that. Here are some of the best stories this week on Wise & Well…
Are You Part of the Exhausted Majority? Here’s How to Cope
Dunno about you, but the recently coined term Exhausted Majority sounds like my new party affiliation. Our modern collective hyper-angst over politics goes back nearly a decade now—perhaps further back for some folks. But this year it’s just gotten nuts. So perhaps we take some comfort in knowing there’s one thing a majority of Americans agree strongly on: Politics has worn us out. Perhaps it’s time to move forward from that reality. Here be suggestions.
Some Patients Really Need High-Dose Stimulants (and Other Medications)
I had no idea the extent to which medication dosages were not only tightly controlled by regulations but significantly open to interpretation by prescribers. And yet, most doctors follow routine guidelines, regardless what might be best for each patient. This psychiatrist and neuroscientist offers a unique perspective, arguing that prescribers should pay much more attention to their patients perceptions of whether a dosage is working or not.
Why You Need Stronger Bones and How to Get Some
Bone density begins to deteriorate in your 20s. You don’t want that. Weak bones are susceptible to breaking, especially if you fall—which is the most common source of injury for older people. To keep bones strong, you need to do heavy resistance training and impact activities—no matter how old you are. Our resident physical therapist explains exactly how. Bonus effect: You will feel better physically and mentally.
Why Teenagers are So Impulsive: A User’s Guide for Parents
I’ve helped parent three teens, and there were times when I wondered if each would ever grow into full-functioning adults. The tension was not always easy, for us as parents or for them as teens. The stupid things they did turned into a running joke—their excuse for every impulsive or idiotic act: “my prefrontal cortex isn’t done forming yet.” No joke, it turns out. And as this neuroscientist explains, that’s just one of the challenges, brainwise, that teens (and parents) have to deal with.
Master Fencer Out-Duels Chronic Pain, Even as His Hurt Persists
We like stories with happy endings. But the very definition of chronic pain can make it really hard to put a positive spin on the suffering. This story, based on an extensive interview by the writer, is about one man who has tried everything and come to accept that his awful chronic pain may never subside. And so he’s made some peace with it, learned coping mechanisms, and works to spread awareness of his condition. I, for one, am inspired.
Endometriosis is Under-Diagnosed, Especially in Black and Hispanic Women
Ask any man what endometriosis is and your apt to get a blank stare. A lot of researchers and doctors are men. Perhaps that helps explain why endometriosis, which afflicts about 10% of reproductive-age women worldwide, is both under-researched and under-diagnosed, particularly among minorities populations. Symptoms are often overlooked, this physician-scientist explains.
Once-Rare Deadly Disease Adds to US Mosquito Worries
You may never have heard of Eastern equine encephalitis. It’s transmitted by mosquitoes, mostly in the Eastern US and Gulf Coast states. Officials are increasingly concerned by the number of infections, which can turn deadly. Our infectious disease doctor explains what to watch for and how to protect yourself, which has the added benefit of protecting you against even more common mosquito-borne illnesses.
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