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Written by Tom O'bedlam
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Wednesday, 03 August 2011 14:36 |
According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, climate change is expected to lead to worsening drought conditions and greater heat extremes, along with myriad health problems.
Based on an analysis of weather station data gathered by the National Climatic Data Center and other sources, NRDC’s new “Climate Change Threatens Health” webpage lets users see the effects of climate change at a regional and state level.
For example, the NRDC web tool compares temperature data in each state from 2000 through 2009 to local temperatures from 1961 to 1990. Users can see that residents of the western United States experienced more days of extreme heat than in previous decades and a frequency of drought conditions from 2000 through 2009.
This extreme heat can lead to heat exhaustion, heat stroke, cardiovascular disease, and kidney disease, while drought can lead to lower crop yields and contaminated drinking water. Many communities do not have plans in place to address these problems. Twenty states that have experienced the worst extreme heat are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming, as well as the District of Columbia. This means residents in the majority of these states and in D.C. experienced more than two weeks per summer of extreme heat that was worse than in past decades.
All but two states had at least one county that experienced more than two weeks of summer days of extreme heat and most do not have heat-health adaptation plans in place. Fortunately, about 20% of states in the highest heat-vulnerability group (CA, NH, OR, WA) do have heat preparedness plans.
“Climate change is real and in many cases is already affecting people and natural ecosystems,” said Kim Knowlton, senior scientist in NRDC’s health and environment program. “Our analysis will help people across the country find out exactly how climate change affects their state. From the dangers of extreme heat and increased flooding to the spread of ragweed whose pollen causes allergies or mosquitoes that can spread disease, climate change does not discriminate and local communities need to be better prepared.”
Dan Lashof, director of NRDC’s Climate Center, said these threats, aggravated by increased levels of carbon pollution, illustrate the danger of congressional efforts to dismantle the Clean Air Act and its public health protections.
“Climate preparedness should be better funded, and the states that don't have public health preparedness strategies in their climate adaptation plans definitely need to add those,” Lashof said. “Our maps show this is an ongoing problem, and the health effects of this summer’s heat waves have not even been fully measured yet.”
The NRDC website can be found here www.nrdc.org/climatemaps
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