Effects Of Global Warming and Pollution On Human Health

The 21st century, often referred to as the era of globalization, was expected to make tremendous advancements in the field of science, technology and telecommunication. However, it saw an increased threat to global health. With the ever-increasing gap in the societal revenues, health for all cannot be simply achieved. Timely analyzing and reporting of diseases and death across the countries might be different and in some might not exist at all. Therefore, tackling the global disease burden would be a challenge for organizations like World health Organization, United Nations Development Programme, World Bank and World Health Council.

The above-mentioned organizations would have to fight against poverty too to ensure good global health. They cannot ignore malnutrition and hunger faced by the under developed nations. The life expectancy falls due to an increase in child mortality, increase of death due to infectious diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, vaccine preventable diseases, sexually transmitted diseases like HIV, emerging infectious diseases. They will have to ensure the availability of safe drinking water for all. When the health organizations strive to eradicate malnutrition and global hunger in the under developed countries, they are equally faced with a much challenging issue of obesity, common in the western and developing countries.

EFFECTS OF GLOBAL WARMING ON HUMAN HEALTH

The Global Warming has resulted in an increase in the earth’s surface temperatures, which has terrific effect on human health. Rapid melting of snow in the artic, rising of sea levels and erratic climate variations because of Global Warming can cause serious alterations to the eco system, as there would be changes in the vegetation.

The rain forests, which hold water, are shrinking due to frequent forest fires. Due to global warming, the ocean is getting warmer; the storms can pick up more energy from them. This explains the cause of Hurricanes like Katrina, Tornadoes, floods and tsunami, heat waves and forest fires that bring about huge damage and destruction, injuries and death of lives; these could be followed by epidemics that are mainly water and food borne. Thus, the death toll could rise further than predicted. The erratic climatic change affects the agriculture, which can lead to deficit of food supplies and further leave the people starved and sick.

Modern and industrial agriculture, which replaces the traditional one, consumes huge quantities of fuel, right from growing the crops until the time of delivering the food to the consumers located miles away. In addition, modern agriculture makes use of high nitrogen contained manures, fertilizers resulting in an increase of nitrous oxide to the atmosphere. This increases the green house gas composition in the atmosphere, further enhancing the global warming and ultimately global climate change. The rain fed rice farms emit less methane than the nitrogen rich fertilized rice farms. The cattle we raise are nowadays fed on rich protein diet, which emits more methane than the grass fed ones.

PLASTICS AND HEALTH IMPACTS

Used and thrown away diapers and other non-decomposable materials emit considerable amount of methane and other toxins increasing the green house gas composition, thereby causing global warming.

The solution to the plastic threat is by segregating plastics and similar non-degradable objects from biodegradable stuffs and subjecting the former to the recycling units. The City Corporation of Thiruvanandapuram in Kerala, a southern state of India has been successful in setting up a recycling unit at Vilappilshalla, where the garbage is segregated and plastics are broken into granules, which are recycled into plastic bags. These granules were also used in pothole free road constructions.

The Kerala Government has banned the use and sale of plastic carry bags below 30 microns.

Food scraps and food soiled paper emits methane. These biodegradable stuffs should be collected and treated at composting plants. In addition, we should try producing less or no food wastes. Some food chains in Hong Kong impose fines on the customers if they make food leftovers, which is a practical method of cutting down global warming.

The pests over the time have got genetically adapted to the pesticides, so the only solution is to use more expensive and highly poisonous modern pesticides like Endosulfan, which has been banned in many countries. Prolonged usage of strong pesticides has affected human health, causing paralysis, physical deformities, cancers and even central nervous system disorders. Reports of the usage of killer Endosulfan in Kasaragod district of Kerala and its effects on the health of the villagers bear testimony to the fact that man kills not only humankind but also the entire eco-system just for some monetary gains.

The solution to this problem is by cultivating and encouraging the consumption of organic foods. Organic crops are grown without the addition of harmful pesticides, fertilizers, sewage sludge and human wastes. Encouraging the consumption of organic crops could reduce green house gas emissions to a considerable level, there by improving global health.

POLLUTION AND GLOBAL WARMING

Pollution from vehicles and plants contribute a greater proportion of green house gases to the atmosphere. These green house gases acts as a thick blanket, trapping much of the sun’s heat, thus warming the earth. These pollutants also cause respiratory and cardio-vascular diseases in humans.

By controlling the emissions from power plants and vehicles, we can improve the quality of air we breathe, indirectly our health. Some countries encourage car-pooling, thereby reducing road traffic, fuel and pollution. Using modern technology to build electric cars, relying on other sources of energy such as wind and solar can indirectly reduce global warming. Architects can design works that utilizes minimum energy and less vulnerable to heat and flood. Transport planners can do their best in creating and encouraging safe public transport system to allow convenient and an eco-friendly commuting for the public.

Finally, educating people about global warming and their health, on how each one of us can contribute to save energy and reduce our bills by simply choosing a fluorescent lamp over an incandescent bulb and switching them off when not needed is critical. Making them prepare for disasters and enhancing disaster management is highly essential.