Health professionals organize for climate solutions | My View ... - Santa Fe New Mexican
Health professionals organize for climate solutions | My View | santafenewmexican.com
Back-to-back days of debilitating heat. We all feel it. Even worse, this record-breaking stretch of dangerous heat is just another sign that our way of life, and the health of all New Mexicans, is under threat. Extreme heat contributes to numerous life-threatening health problems, including heatstroke, dehydration, increased risk of heart attacks, respiratory difficulties and more.
In New Mexico, between 2009 and 2020, heat-related emergency department visits doubled and heat hospitalizations quadrupled. Our elders and children are suffering disproportionately. Pregnant women exposed to extreme heat are more likely to have stillbirths or preterm births. Young children and senior citizens are at increased risk of deadly heat stroke as they are less able to physically cope with high temperatures.
Year-after-year record-breaking high temperatures, historic wildfires and worsening drought are increasing concern among health professionals. No longer is climate change a distant threat. It is pushing our already fragile health care and social support systems to their limit, as we witness an alarming rise in climate-related illnesses and injuries, mental health stress and loss of livelihoods.
Dr. Paul Charlton, Nathaniel Matthews-Trigg, MPH, CEM, and Shelley Mann-Lev, MPH, are all New Mexico health professionals.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”