Thursday, July 18, 2013

And Then There's the Kids--Climate Change, Summer 2013 Part 6

And so it continues....
"For the sake of our children and our future, we must do more to combat climate change." ~ President Obama in his 2013 State of the Union Address
I found the above quote from the July 11th article by Frederica Perera, DrPH, PhD in the Huffington Post.  Dr. Perera wrote an article entitled "Climate Change and Our Children." In it, there were some noticeable points and numbers that speak very loudly.
  • 88% = The World Health Organization (WHO)'s estimated percentage of diseases that affect kids age 5 or  younger that are connected to the effects of climate change.  Immature immune systems of the young and nutritional needs are greatest cause for this connection.  This 88% affects populations globally.  Hardest hit:  the little ones in lower socioeconomic populations.  
  • 150,000 = The WHO's estimate of deaths caused annually due to climate change (adults and children combined).
  • 5,000,000 = The WHO's estimate of years lost due to disability, malnutrition, or poor health due to climate change.  
  • 17 = The number of years between now and 2030.  During these years, the 5 million above could double if nothing is done to curb the problems.
  • 66,500,000 = The number of children globally (over time) who have been affected by weather-related disasters--which have increased in both magnitude and occurrence. 
  • 372,000 = The number of children left school-less due to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.  (It amazes me to realize that hurricane and its devastation was nearly 8 years ago!)
The list of health effects on small children is detailed well in Dr. Perera's article.  The list are many as a result of heat waves, air pollutants, and exposures that all come about due to the after-effects of our warming planet.  Given their still-developing, little systems, it's no wonder that the smallest of our people are the hardest hit and the most at risk.  They need us all to be agents of change, to curb the climatic changes.


Along those lines...more numbers....

NOAA's State of the Climate Report for June 2013 had this very striking quote:
"The globally-averaged temperature for June 2013 tied with 2006 as the fifth warmest June since record keeping began in 1880. June 2013 also marks the 37th consecutive June and 340th consecutive month with a global temperature above the 20th century average."
So all that remains....

Are the questions:  What is going to be done to solve these problems? Why aren't we doing more now? And why are people even still questioning the existence of climate change?

These are the things that make me shake my head.

To see more on my GTG summer series on climate change, click here!




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