Blog Action Day: For a More Healthy Future

It’s still a beautiful world in most cases, but we need to take action to keep it that way.

In honor of the 2009 Blog Action Day topic, climate change, I’m writing about some of the not-very-pleasant health effects we might see if climate change goes unchecked.

According to the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, changes brought about by climate change are expected to affect the health of millions of people directly. Climate change can affect your health in the future directly via heat waves, floods and storms. It can affect your health indirectly by increasing smog and ozone in cities and by contributing to the spread of infectious diseases, especially those spread by mosquitoes. The quality and availability of food and water would also be affected. The sick, elderly and poor would be at greatest risk from the effects of climate change.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have identified some negative health effects of climate change: increases in asthma rates and food- and water-related diseases, as well as increases in heat-related deaths and deaths from extreme weather events like hurricanes.

Working together, we can help prevent many of the negative health effects of climate change. Doing your own part at home is important, but so is making your voice heart on climate legislation. Learn more about simple ways you can get involved for change at Blog Action Day.

(Image via flickr/Fr Antunes)