One thing we have learnt this week – climate change is bad for your health

Hotel_Baron_thermometerClimate change is bad for your health.  The whole of the northern hemisphere has been suffering from a heatwave this summer.  The technical cause is the path of the jetstream.  However the path of this is affected by other factors – its complicated.  What’s not so complicated is the outcome.  Very high temperatures.  Records have been broken in Japan and almost in Europe.  In southern Europe and California and even inside the Arctic circle in Sweden there have been very bad forest fires.

Its not just trees that are dying though.  Or animals.  Humans have been dying as well in large numbers.  Climate change is bad for your health.  Not just your mental health as we looked at in recent post but physical health as well.  The health system in the UK has been operating at winter levels and there have been lots of deaths even in countries which are more used to the heat.  Its obvious that if you are elderly or younger with a variety of underlying health conditions extreme heat conditions are not good for you.

What makes the situation more difficult is when the temperature doesn’t drop at night.  People in Portugal who are more used to the heat were being driven crazy by the night time temperatures a few weeks ago*.   All this is yet another reason to act as these very hot summers become the norm.

Neil

*In Germany a store was selling people time in a walk in freezer.  Not very eco friendly.

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