A warming world is putting pressure on every system in your body. Heat waves, wildfire smoke, infectious diseases, and other health threats amplified by climate change are jeopardizing decades of public health gains. As temperatures rise, experts warn that everyone is at risk.
This story is part of the Grist series Vital Signs, exploring the ways climate change affects your health. This reporting initiative is made possible thanks to support from the Wellcome Trust.
Doctors agree: Climate change is a hazard to your health. Leading medical journals warn that rising greenhouse gas emissions will result in millions of needless deaths and undermine decades of hard-won progress in public health.
Some of these risks are obvious. The immediate effects of extreme heat and wildfire smoke on the lungs and heart are easy to recognize — and particularly dangerous for those who are already immunocompromised or in poor health. Heat-related mortality has been rising since the 1990s, and wildfire smoke is now linked to tens of thousands of illnesses and deaths every year.
But researchers are beginning to unearth clues about how repeat, overlapping climate stressors, from flood-related mold to warming water temperatures to higher pollen counts, affect everyone — even society’s healthiest members. No one is immune.
