Infectious Disease, Deadly Heat Risks As UN Warns On Climate Emergency
News outlets cover a dramatic warning from the United Nations: Its climate change report alerts that the world is set to pass a "dangerous temperature threshold" soon, with implications for human health and well-being, including deadly heat waves. Forever chemicals are also in the news.
The Washington Post:
World Is On Brink Of Catastrophic Warming, U.N. Climate Change Report Says
The world is likely to pass a dangerous temperature threshold within the next 10 years, pushing the planet past the point of catastrophic warming — unless nations drastically transform their economies and immediately transition away from fossil fuels, according to one of the most definitive reports ever published about climate change. ... Beyond that threshold, scientists have found, climate disasters will become so extreme that people will not be able to adapt. Basic components of the Earth system will be fundamentally, irrevocably altered. Heat waves, famines and infectious diseases could claim millions of additional lives by century’s end. (Kaplan, 3/20)
The New York Times:
Earth To Hit Critical Global Warming Threshold By Early 2030s
Many scientists have pointed out that surpassing the 1.5 degree threshold will not mean humanity is doomed. But every fraction of a degree of additional warming is expected to increase the severity of dangers that people around the world face, such as water scarcity, malnutrition and deadly heat waves. The difference between 1.5 degrees of warming and 2 degrees might mean that tens of millions more people worldwide experience life-threatening heat waves, water shortages and coastal flooding. A 1.5-degree world might still have coral reefs and summer Arctic sea ice, while a 2-degree world most likely would not. (Plumer, 3/20)
In other environmental health news —
CNN:
Child Growth And Development Hampered By PFAS In Blood, Study Says
Potentially toxic chemicals found in everyday products, including fast-food wrappers, makeup and carpeting, are altering hormonal and metabolic pathways needed for human growth and development, according to a new study. Researchers analyzed study samples from young children, teens and young adults, all of whom had a mixture of different synthetic compounds called perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances — or PFAS — in their blood, including PFOS, PFOA, PFHxS, PFNA, PFHpS and PFDA. (LaMotte, 3/20)
Columbus Dispatch:
What The Crackdown On 'Forever Chemicals' Means For Columbus
"Forever chemicals" are present in Columbus' public water supply, but at levels below the restricted threshold proposed last week by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency."Currently, we would be below the limits they have just set out," said Rod Dunn, manager of the city's Water Quality Assurance Lab. (Trombly, 3/20)
The Texas Tribune:
Proposed Rule To Limit Pollution May Force Texas To Limit Emissions
Sandra Crumby’s inhalers are scattered inside her neon green house. Crumby, a 67-year-old Joppa native, uses the small devices to spray medicine directly into her lungs to keep her heart from failing. She has emphysema, a lung condition that causes shortness of breath. She huffs, puffs and struggles to catch her breath on a sunny day in March as she attempts to say a few words between inhales and exhales. Crumby blames her illness on her surroundings. Joppa, less than 10 miles south of downtown Dallas, has been cited by some researchers as among the most air-polluted neighborhoods in the city. (Martinez, 3/21)
