Lec 16 Human Health and Climate Change Flashcards
Why should we care about climate change?
WHO estimated 150,000 people die annually from climate change associated issues
What patterns do we see where global warming causes disproportionate deaths from climate change?
the amount of death experienced increases with countries that have less resources to manage global warming
(less access to water and are highly populated)
What does WHO project for deaths in 2030-2050?
climate change will cause an additional 250,000 additional deaths/year among the elderly, with diarrhea, malaria and childhood malnutrition
Define heat stroke:
severe condition caused by extremely high body temperatures
What causes heat stroke?
heat causes internal organs to swell
What are signs of a heat stroke?
high body temperature, dry or damp skin, fast and strong pulse, headache, dizziness, nausea, confusion and lost of consciousness
How does a small average temperature increase such extreme heat?
the new climate change results in a shift of more frequent higher average temperatures
What are the human effects of extreme heat?
Around 2022, ~62,000 people died of heat related illnesses in Europe.
Without climate change, these events would have been virtually impossible to occur
Define Urban Heat Islands
Urban areas (cities) are hotter than surrounding, less urbanized (rural) area
Why are Urban Heat Islands existent?
Dark surfaces (ex: asphalt) heat up a lot. Without vegetation areas (green spaces/grass), it can’t actively cool as fast
When is urban heating particularly large compared to surrounding rural areas?
Downtown areas stay hotter at night
What methods do we have to manage extreme heat?
Planting trees in urban spaces.
Why are trees a management strategy for urban heat island growth?
they provide shade and distribute evaporation
Why is heat not evenly distributed in Columbus?
Wealthier areas have more green space so they are cooler. Now, we can target areas being disproportionately heated by planting trees.
What can help with the malnutrition issue that affects poorer countries?
Crop yield/food security
How does temperature affect crop yield?
We have temperature optima;
as temperatures increase, they’re pushes beyond their optima and performance suffers.
How does elevated CO2 change the nutrient levels of crop species? (3 answers)
- Protein, zinc and iron decrease with higher CO2 for wheat, rice and maize
- Protein content of soybean increases by 0.5% with higher CO2
- Protein in soybean is the only factor that increased with higher CO2
How does iron supply change with malnutrition?
It decreases iron prevalence for more than 20% of the population
(roughly 280 million people who are iron deficient)
How can iron supply change nutrient levels in crops for malnutritient people?
Iron supply could drop by 3.8%
How does ocean warming affect heat content of its top surface?
sea surface temperatures have been hotter than the long-term average at all times since the late 1980’s
Warmer ocean temperatures fuel more _____ hurricanes
intense
Define power dissipation index:
the aggregate measure of storm intensity, frequency and duration
What does the power dissipation index do?
It measures the total hurricane power over a year’s hurricane season
Why is hurricane-climate data limited?
We haven’t had the satellite technology to connect the data until the 1970’s
