Global Warming and Our Health

Devastating heat waves sweeping across continents. Poisonous plants producing more potent toxins. Air quality plummeting on summer days. Disease-carrying insects swarming mountain villages.

These scenarios aren't the recipe for a summer disaster movie. They're some of the widespread health consequences caused by global warming. And they're happening right now, all over the world. (For examples of climate-related health effects and what's being done to cope with them, explore the map at the right.)

Scientists say that as earth's thermostat continues to climb, human health problems will only become more frequent. The threats range from emerging tropical diseases to life-threatening temperatures to an increase in allergies and asthma.

Feeling the Impact

Here are some examples of what's already happening due to global warming:

In the summer of 2003, an intense heat wave was blamed for an estimated 35,000 deaths across large swaths of Europe. A study says that global warming has doubled the likelihood of heat waves of this magnitude.
Scientists found in 2008 that poison ivy vines have grown 10 times denser near Savannah, Ga., over the last 20 years. Increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere causes poison ivy to grow larger and produce stronger irritants.
Six young men and boys were killed by fatal parasites in 2007 at Lake Havasu, Ariz., after they swam in water infested with a heat-loving amoeba. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expect more of these illnesses as global temperatures rise.
Mosquitoes that carry malaria were found at never-before-seen elevations on Mount Kenya in 2006. As temperatures rise, higher elevations become more hospitable for mosquitoes -- and more dangerous for local inhabitants.
Future health problems can also be expected from sea-level rise, increased flooding and stronger storms, among other climate-related threats.

Action Needed Now

There is still time to avert the worst of the health threats by taking aggressive action now to cut global warming pollution. Even so, health care systems should begin preparing so that communities can be protected as temperatures rise.

Local strategies already in the works include heat-wave warning systems and response plans for cities, improved infrastructure in vulnerable coastal areas, and green buildings that stay cool and save energy. But a greater local, national and international understanding of the health risks is needed. There's no time to wait.

NRDC is working to research the links between global warming and health so that the public and policymakers can better understand the risks. We're also taking steps to prepare the public health system and promote solutions that will offer added health benefits by reducing both greenhouse gases and toxic pollution