MEDICAL ALERT! Climate Change Is Harming Our Health

The report, produced by a consortium of medical societies, alerts the public and policymakers that climate change is already causing direct and indirect health harms across the United States. It identifies vulnerable populations, such as children and the elderly, and details how extreme heat, weather events, air pollution, and the spread of infectious diseases impact public health. The document advocates for the acceleration of a transition to clean renewable energy as the most critical action to protect health and provide immediate co-benefits like improved air and water quality.

• There is a strong scientific consensus that human-caused climate change is occurring, with more than 97 percent of climate scientists reaching this conclusion.
• Climate change is currently causing a variety of health problems in U.S. communities, including heat-related illnesses, worsening chronic conditions, injuries and deaths from extreme weather, infectious diseases from ticks and mosquitoes, contaminated food and water, and mental health issues.
• Certain groups are at higher risk of climate-related health harms, specifically children, student athletes, pregnant women, the elderly, people with chronic illnesses and allergies, and the poor.
• Climate change negatively impacts air quality by increasing smog, pollen production, and wildfires; the latter can cause a 50 percent increase in emergency department visits for respiratory illnesses like COPD, pneumonia, and bronchitis in affected areas.
• Warming temperatures and changing precipitation patterns are expanding the geographic range and number of disease vectors; for example, the tick carrying Lyme disease is now reported in 45.7% of U.S. counties, compared to 30% in 1998.
• Climate change threatens nutrition by increasing carbon dioxide levels, which reduces the protein and essential mineral content of key crops such as wheat, rice, barley, and potatoes, while increasing starch and sugar.
• The most effective way to protect public health is to reduce heat-trapping pollution by accelerating the transition to clean renewable energy, which provides immediate benefits by cleaning air and water.
• The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) in nine northeastern states demonstrated that capping carbon dioxide emissions can yield significant health benefits, including an estimated $5.7 billion in health cost savings and the prevention of 300–830 early adult deaths.

APA

Sarfaty, M., Gould, R. J., & Maibach, E. W. (n.d.). MEDICAL ALERT! Climate Change Is Harming Our Health. Center for Climate Change Communication. https://climatecommunication.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/medical_alert.pdf

Chicago

Sarfaty, Mona, Robert J. Gould, and Edward W. Maibach. MEDICAL ALERT! Climate Change Is Harming Our Health. Center for Climate Change Communication, n.d. https://climatecommunication.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/medical_alert.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{sarfatyndmedical, author = {Sarfaty, Mona and Gould, Robert J. and Maibach, Edward W.}, title = {{MEDICAL ALERT! Climate Change Is Harming Our Health}}, institution = {Center for Climate Change Communication}, url = {https://climatecommunication.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/medical_alert.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }