Climate Change Health Risk May Cause Huge Issues for U.S. Healthcare in the Future

Climate change could threaten global health. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a report quantifying the vast economic, health, and environmental benefits that reducing global carbon pollution will have on the United States.

The report itself actually compares two future scenarios: a future with significant global action on climate change, and a future with no action on climate change. The report then quantifies the differences in health, infrastructure and ecosystem impacts under the two scenarios.

"The report finds that we can save tens of thousands of American lives, and hundreds of billions of dollars annually in the United States by the end of this century, and the sooner we act, the better off America and future generations of Americans will be," said Gina McCarthy, EPA Administrator, in a news release.

So what did the EPA find exactly? It turns out that global action on climate change reduces the frequency of extreme weather events and their associated impacts. If global action is taken, by 2100 an estimated 12,000 deaths in 49 U.S. cities could be avoided. In addition, global action will have long-term effects; it could prevent 13,000 deaths in 2050 and 57,000 deaths in 2100 from poor air quality.

"Climate change is a medical emergency," said Commission co-Chair Hugh Mongomery, director of the UCL Insitutute for Human Health and Performance, in a news release. "It thus demands an emergency response, using the technologies available right now. Under such circumstances, no doctor would consider a series of annual case discussions and aspirations adequate, yet this is exactly how the global response to climate change is proceeding."

This latest report reveals that with action, deaths can be avoided. Without these types of actions, though, we're likely to experience worsening conditions in the future. This could actually increase the amount of deaths associated with climate-related incidents, such as extreme temperatures, poorer air quality, and other risks.

For more information, check out the EPA's report online here.

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