CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS IMPACT ON HEALTH

INTRODUCTION

Climate change is a significant & lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns
over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. Change in average weather conditions,
or in Distribution of weather around average conditions (i.e., more or fewer extreme weather
events).Changes in many aspects of weather, such as Wind patterns, Precipitation & Severe
weather events. Far-reaching and/or unpredictable environmental, social and economic
consequences.
Weather is the day-to-day state of the atmosphere, and its short-term variation in minutes to
weeks. People generally think of weather as the combination of temperature, humidity,
precipitation, cloudiness, visibility, and wind. Climate is the weather of a place averaged over a
period of time, often 30 years. Global analyses show that the amount of water vapor in the
atmosphere has in fact increased due to human-caused warming. This extra moisture is available
to storm systems, resulting in heavier rainfalls. Climate change also alters characteristics of the
atmosphere that affect weather patterns and storms.

DEFINITION

Climate change:

It refers to any change in climate over time, whether due to natural variability or as a result of
human activity.

A change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the
composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability
observed over comparable time periods.

UNFCCC

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

 Temperature measurements
 Melting of Glaciers
 Arctic sea ice loss
 Sea level change

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  Others
- Pollen analysis
- Precipitation
- Ice cores
CAUSES

1. Natural causes
a) Volcanic eruptions
b) Ocean currents
c) Earth orbits
d) Solar variation
2. Human causes (Anthropogenic or manmade)
a) Green house gases
b) Deforestation
c) Coal mining
d) Burning of fossil fuel
e) Industrial processes
f) Agriculture

Volcanic eruptions

 The eruption caused widespread destruction and loss of human life.

 Gases and solids injected into the stratosphere circled the globe for three weeks.
 Volcanic eruptions of this magnitude can impact global climate, reducing the amount of
solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface, lowering temperatures in the troposphere, and
changing atmospheric circulation patterns.
 The extent to which this occurs is an ongoing debate.
 Large-scale volcanic activity may last only a few days, but the massive outpouring of
gases and ash can influence climate patterns for years.
 Sulfuric gases convert to sulfate aerosols, sub-micron droplets containing about 75
percent sulfuric acid.
 Following eruptions, these aerosol particles can linger as long as three to four years in the
stratosphere.

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Ocean currents

 Ocean currents act much like a conveyer belt, transporting warm water and precipitation
from the equator toward the poles and cold water from the poles back to the tropics.
 Thus, currents regulate global climate, helping to counteract the uneven distribution of
solar radiation reaching Earth's surface.

Earth orbits

 Orbital effects on climate are various solar/celestial effects that exist which have
an effect on Earth's climate.
 These effects usually occur in cycles, and primarily include how Earth's obliquity, the
eccentricity of Earth's orbit, and the precession of the equinoxes and solstices affect
Earth's climate.

Solar variation

 It follows from the analysis of observation data that the secular variation of the mean
temperature of the Earth can be explained by the variation of short-wave radiation,
arriving at the surface of the Earth.
 In connection with this, the influence of long-term changes of radiation, caused by
variations of atmospheric transparency on the thermal regime is being studied.
 Taking into account the influence of changes of planetary albedo of the Earth under the
development of glaciations on the thermal regime, it is found that comparatively small
variations of atmospheric transparency could be sufficient for the development of
quaternary glaciations

Ozone depletion

 Ozone depletion and climate change, or Ozone hole and global warming in more popular
terms, are environmental challenges whose connections have been explored and which
have been compared and contrasted, for example in terms of global regulation, in various
studies and books.

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  There is widespread scientific interest in better regulation of climate change, ozone
depletion and air pollution, as in general the human relationship with the biosphere is
deemed of major historiographical and political significance.[1] Already by 1994 the legal
debates about respective regulation regimes on climate change, ozone depletion and air
pollution were being dubbed "monumental" and a combined synopsis provided

Greenhouse gases

Deforestation

 Deforestation is the clearing, destroying, or otherwise removal of trees through

deliberate, natural or accidental means.
 It can occur in any area densely populated by trees and other plant life, but the majority
of it is currently happening in the Amazon rainforest.
 The loss of trees and other vegetation can cause climate change, desertification, soil
erosion, fewer crops, flooding, increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and a host
of problems for indigenous people.
 Deforestation occurs for a number of reasons, including: farming, mostly cattle due to its
quick turnaround; and logging, for materials and development.
 It has been happening for thousands of years, arguably since man began converting from
hunter/gatherer to agricultural based societies, and required larger, unobstructed tracks of
land to accommodate cattle, crops, and housing.

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  It was only after the onset of the modern era that it became an epidemic
 Effects of deforestation are loss of habitat, green house gases, water in the atmosphere,
Soil erosion and flooding

Coal mining

 Coal is the single biggest contributor to anthropogenic climate change.

 Coal is the single biggest contributor to anthropogenic climate change.
 The burning of coal is responsible for 46% of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide and
accounts for 72% of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the electricity sector.
 If plans to build up to 1200 new coal fired power stations around the world are realized,
the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from these plants would put us on a path towards
catastrophic climate change, causing global temperatures to rise by over five degrees
Celsius by 2100.
 This will have dire impacts for all life on earth.

Burning of fossil fuel

 Extraction processes can generate air and water pollution, and harm local communities.
 Transporting fuels from the mine or well can cause air pollution and lead to serious
accidents and spills.
 When the fuels are burned, they emit toxins and global warming emission.

Industrial processes

 Carbon dioxide (CO2): A naturally occurring gas as well as a by-product of burning

fossil fuels and land-use changes and other industrial processes.
 It is the principal greenhouse gas which affects the Earth’s radioactive balance and the
reference gas against which other greenhouse gases are measured.
 Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs): Greenhouse gases which are used for refrigeration, air
conditioning, packaging, insulation, solvents, or aerosol propellants.
 They are all covered under the 1987 Montreal Protocol.
 Since they are not destroyed in the lower atmosphere, CFCs drift into the upper
atmosphere where, given suitable conditions, they break down ozone.

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 These gases are being replaced by other compounds, including hydro
chlorofluorocarbons, covered under the Kyoto Protocol.

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CONCLUSION

Certain groups have higher susceptibility to climate-sensitive health impacts owing to their
age. Many infectious diseases, including water-borne ones, are highly sensitive to climate
conditions. Climate change lengthens the transmission season and expands the geographical
range of many diseases like malaria and dengue. Climate change will bring new and emerging
health issues, including heat waves and other extreme events.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. https://unfccc.int/news/climate-change-impacts-human-health
2. https://www.slideshare.net/monalisaran/climate-change-and-its-effects-on
health?from_action
3. https://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/85/3/06-039503/en/