Smell the CO2
We’ve all heard the climate-change doomsday scenarios: devastating natural disasters, droughts, floods, and widespread crop failures. It’s easy to assume from those troubling predictions that higher levels of carbon dioxide emissions in the air, blamed for causing our climate woes, are probably not the best thing for human health, either. But there has been no ...
We've all heard the climate-change doomsday scenarios: devastating natural disasters, droughts, floods, and widespread crop failures. It's easy to assume from those troubling predictions that higher levels of carbon dioxide emissions in the air, blamed for causing our climate woes, are probably not the best thing for human health, either. But there has been no real proof that higher CO2 levels were actually killing people -- until now. For the first time, new research directly links increased emissions to an increase in human deaths.
We’ve all heard the climate-change doomsday scenarios: devastating natural disasters, droughts, floods, and widespread crop failures. It’s easy to assume from those troubling predictions that higher levels of carbon dioxide emissions in the air, blamed for causing our climate woes, are probably not the best thing for human health, either. But there has been no real proof that higher CO2 levels were actually killing people — until now. For the first time, new research directly links increased emissions to an increase in human deaths.
Using one of the most sophisticated computer climate models ever created, Mark Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, has shown that, for every single-degree Celsius rise in global temperatures, increased CO2 emissions lead to about 21,600 more deaths each year. That’s because, as the world warms, levels of corrosive ozone gas and toxic particles in the air also increase, particularly in places that already have a great deal of pollution. Inhaling the ozone gas and particles leads to more respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, which for many people will turn deadly. As Jacobson explained in a video presentation posted on Stanford’s Web site, "Some people have said that you don’t inhale climate change. This study finds that you do."
Drew Shindell, a climatologist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, calls Jacobson’s study "very impressive." He adds that Jacobson’s finding, that ozone gas increases markedly in places that are already highly polluted, is a first in the field. "That’s a really novel and interesting new piece of information."
Compared with, say, the nearly 2 million deaths each year from tuberculosis, 21,600 deaths may seem insignificant. But Jacobson’s study reveals that climate change’s toxic effects aren’t just dangers that may strike several decades from now. "It’s not something that’s going to happen in the future; it’s something that’s happening right now," says Jacobson. In other words, when it comes to CO2 emissions, we can no longer breathe easy.
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