Climate Change Could Cause More Annual Deaths Than Infectious Disease by 2100

In recent decades, tens of thousands of people around the globe have died as the result of extreme heat, and yet the phenomenon of deadly heat would be easy to miss. That may not be true much longer. A new analysis published this week by the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests that, if left unchecked, climate change could drive temperatures up to the point where they would lead to 85 deaths per 100,000 people globally per year by the end of the century. That’s more than are currently killed by all infectious diseases across the globe. “We’re doing a lot of things around the world that are improving healthcare rapidly,” says Solomon Hsiang, a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and one of the authors of the new paper. “Climate change would be a giant step backwards on that progress.” The paper is formally a “working paper” and has not undergone peer review, but it quantifies a reality that researchers who study climate change have long understood. Humans already struggle to survive in extreme temperatures, and that challenge will only get worse as average global temperatures rise. Even today, many people—particularly older adults—are vulnerable. A 2015 heat wave in India and Pakistan, for example, killed more than 3,000 people. The new research suggests temperature rise will become an increasingly significant strain on the health care system, forcing doctors to battle a sur...
Source: TIME: Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news