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Effects
of Global Warming on environment and Health
Dr. S. Tamizuddin, MD (Hom)
In
a recent alarming estimation of, the World Health
Organization (WHO) reported that human-induced changes
in the Earth's climate now lead to at least 5 million
cases of illness and more than 150,000 deaths every
year.
Scientists believe that greenhouse gases effect of
global warming will increase the overall average
temperature by approximately 6 degrees Fahrenheit by the
end of the century. Extreme floods, droughts and heat
waves, are likely to strike with increasing frequency.
Other factors such as irrigation and deforestation can
also affect local temperatures and humidity.
According to the
University of Wisconsin
-Madison and WHO team, other model-based forecasts of
health risks from global climate change project that:
- Climate-related disease risks of the various health
outcomes assessed by WHO will more than double by 2030.
- Flooding as a result of coastal storm surges will
affect the lives of up to 200 million people by the
2080s.
- Heat related deaths in California could more than
double by 2100.
- Hazardous ozone pollution days in the Eastern U.S.
could increase 60 percent by 2050.
The
consequences -
A spike in deadly infectious diseases in wildlife and
people may be the "most immediate consequence" of global
warming. Also
rising of global temperatures may cause malaria climbing
mountains as In the mountains of endemic areas, malaria
is not transmitted above a certain altitude because
temperatures are too cold to support mosquitoes. As
temperatures rise, this malaria line will rise as well.
Another change could be the flu season. Influenza is a
year-round event in the tropics. If the tropical airmass
around the Earth's equator expands, as new areas lose
their seasons they may also begin to see influenza year-
round.
Other sicknesses such as, yellow fever, plague, and
avian influenza, or bird flu, may increase as global
shifts in temperature and precipitation transform
ecosystems. Babesia, cholera, Ebola, intestinal and
external parasites, red tides, Rift Valley fever,
sleeping sickness and tuberculosis round out the list.
Global climate change and impact on world:
It does not produce uniform changes across the world.
Extreme weather events, Hurricanes, typhoons, tornados
and just high intensity storms at one part ,other may
witness drought due to climate change.
Global Climate Change and Infectious Diseases
Global climate change and fluctuations in temperature
may affect human health in a surprising number of ways,
such as the spread of infectious diseases to boosting
the likelihood of illness, influence infectious disease
transmission dynamics.
Just exactly what those changes will be remains unclear,
but scientists agree they will not be for the good.
Environmental changes have
always been associated with the appearance of new
diseases or the arrival of old diseases in new places.
With more changes, we can expect more surprises.
Diseases carried by insects and ticks are likely to be
affected by environmental changes because these
creatures are themselves very sensitive to vegetation
type, temperature, humidity etc. However, the direction
of change , whether the diseases will increase or
decrease is much more difficult to predict, because
disease transmission involves many factors, some of
which will increase and some decrease with environmental
change.
Effect
of global warming on agriculture
could lead to significant changes in disease
transmission and distribution. If agriculture in a
particular area begins to fail due drought, more people
will move into cities. High population densities,
especially in developing countries, are associated with
an increased transmission of a variety of diseases
including HIV, tuberculosis, respiratory diseases (such
as influenza) and sexually transmitted diseases.
Prevention or slow down
of global warming-Individuals
can also play an important role in curbing the health
consequences of global warming as our consumptive
lifestyles are having lethal impacts on other people
around the world, especially the poor. There are options
now for leading more energy-efficient lives that should
enable people to make better personal choices."
Carbon sinks
Ocean and forest absorbs 50 percent of the Co2 human
produce. Hence they are called carbon sink. So avoid
deforestation and polluting ocean.
Homoeopathy and global warming-
Homoeopathy is holistic science and is based on the
natures law hence it considers all factors that
affecting humans even climate change. In organon,
footnote78
Hahnemann given that
some
of the causes that exercise a modifying influence on the
transformation of psora into chronic diseases manifestly
depend sometimes on the climate and the peculiar
physical character of the place of abode, sometimes on
the very great varieties in the physical and mental
training of youth, both of which
may
have been neglected, delayed or carried to excess, or on
their abuse in
the
business or conditions of life, in the matter of diet
and regimen,
passions, manners, habits and customs of various kinds.
In
“The Genius of Homoeopathy” some helpful hints regarding
prescribing and proving is given that is-- Age, sex,
temperament and constitution; occupation, habits,
climate, season, weather; the nature, type, extent and
stage of the disease- everything, in fact, which
modifies the psychological, physiological, or
pathological status of the individual patient modifies,
at the same time, the susceptibility to medicine,
increasing or decreasing it, in health and disease. All
these modifying factors must be observed, considered,
weighed, and their influence estimated in conducting a
proving, or treating a case. One will react only to a
high potency, another only to a medium potency, or still
another only to a low potency or tangible doses of the
crude drug. Habitat has a great part in such molding.
Members of the animal and vegetable kingdom acquire
certain properties by virtue of the soil and climate
wherein they flourish, the quantity and quality of
nourishment, water and sunlight they receive, etc. In
this respect, they may be compared to human beings whose
characteristics, habits and reactions are often molded
by the circumstances and environment of their life.
Animals and even plants develop special methods of
sustenance and self-protection suitable to the areas
wherein they reside. One would almost think them to be
human and that their behavior is as much the result of
intelligence as of instinct. All these inherited and
acquired virtues and defects go to make up the
individuality of the substance which is reflected in its
actions and reactions.
In
homoeopathy remedies are there which are useful in
today’s conditions which are due to impact of climate
change, leading to various kinds of diseases in humans
and animals. |
