Climate Changes Health

Over the last 50 years, human activities, particularly the burning of fossil fuels, have released sufficient quantities of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to trap heat in the lower atmosphere and affect the global climate. Each of the last three decades has been successively warmer than any preceding decade since 1850. Sea levels are rising, glaciers are melting and precipitation patterns are changing. Extreme weather events are becoming more intense and frequent. The overall health effects of a changing climate are overwhelmingly negative. Climate change damages many of the resources that are social and environmental determinants of health - clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food and secure shelter.