Opinion: Reality CT faces from climate change unless we act - Hartford Courant

Opinion: Reality CT faces from climate change unless we act

Climate change can no longer be an issue left to our grandchildren to figure out. If it’s “business as usual” and no efforts to cap greenhouse gas emissions are put into place today, there will be devastating climate and health consequences for Connecticut by the year 2100. Under our current practices, human health is projected to be compromised as a direct result of climate change by the mid-century (2040-2069) – that’s as soon as 16 years from now. Let’s paint the picture for what our state could endure over the next several decades.

Temperature is expected to rise and keep on rising, both in the average annual temperature and number of extreme heat days (greater than 95◦F). Extreme heat in urban areas throughout Connecticut is especially dangerous due to the urban heat island effect – high density of man-made infrastructure compared to nature.

Outdoor workers (farm laborers, landscapers, construction workers), individuals experiencing homelessness, and people over age 65 are our most vulnerable residents. Connecticut’s number and proportion of people over 65 will continue to rise over the next few decades. These populations are at greater risk of heat-related illnesses, such as heat exhaustion and heat stroke, because they are in positions where the body is not able to properly cool itself. Heat stroke can progress to brain and organ damage, and even death. The increased incidence of heat stress will increase emergency department visits and hospitalizations, putting stain on the healthcare system.

CDC issues heat protection guidelines ahead of summer travel period

Increased temperatures will be year-round, decreasing the number of frost days, causing earlier winter-spring and later fall-winter transitions. Direct health effects include hay fever and asthma exacerbations, as well as creating conditions for larger tick and mosquito populations for longer periods throughout the year. Infectious diseases carried by mosquitos, including West Nile virus, Eastern equine encephalitis, and tick-transmitted Lyme disease will be more frequent. Water temperatures will also rise.

-
The Arrigoni Bridge can be seen as smoke from the Canada wildfires covers Connecticut. (Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant)
-
Walkers go through Bushnell park in downtown Hartford as the area that was covered with smoke from the Canadian wildfires on Wednesday, June 7, 2023. (Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant)
-
Haze obscures the Hartford skyline on June 6, 2023, in the final days of Connecticut's legislative session. (Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant)
-
A haze from the Canadian fires can be seen as the Rocky Hill-Glastonbury Ferry transports a car across the Connecticut River into the Rocky Hill on Thursday, June 8, 2023. (Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant)
-
The flooded Connecticut River is keeping the Connecticut State Ferry Service closed at Ferry Park in Rocky Hill on Monday, April 1, 2024. (Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant)
-
The flooded Connecticut River is keeping the Connecticut State Ferry Service closed at Ferry Park in Rocky Hill on Monday, April 1, 2024. (Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant)
-
Kevin and Vicki Schmidt of Lisbon, takes photos of the Yantic River as it flows under the Sunnyside Street Bridge in Yantic as the river floods the area after part of the Fitchville Dam failed on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024. (Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant)
-
Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant
Flooding after Tuesday, January 9's storm. (Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant)
-
Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant
Flooding after Tuesday, January 9's storm. (Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant)
-
A car is stuck at the Yantic River Plaza Shopping Center as water from the Yantic River floods the area after part of the Fitchville Dam failed on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024. (Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant)
-
Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant
Flooding after Tuesday, January 9's storm. (Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant)

Expand

Eating fresh-caught seafood from the warm coastal waters of the Long Island Sound and swimming in many of our freshwater lakes and ponds will come with a heightened risk of exposure to infectious pathogens and bacteria.

Extreme weather events will become the norm. Heavy rainfall events (three consecutive days with cumulative precipitation of 3 or more inches) have already begun to increase throughout the state. While more rain may not initially seem like an issue, the danger comes when the natural and human-made systems designed to process rainfall become overwhelmed, causing flooding along rivers and in urban areas.

Following the path of the Connecticut River, Hartford and Middlesex counties have been designated as having a “high hazard level” for river flooding, meaning at least once in the next 10 years there will be a potentially damaging and life-threatening river flood. Flooding causes injury and death from drowning, disruption of medical care and critical infrastructure, and possible exposure to toxic chemicals or pathogens in floodwater or contaminated drinking water.

The East Coast has a sinking coastline; this, in combination with the rising sea level, puts our coastal counties at a hazardous risk of high tide coastal flooding, compromising drinking water sources and transmitting pathogens. Exposure to extreme weather events is associated with mental health impacts, including post-traumatic stress disorder. Consider the psychological stress of being forced to leave your home and relocate to a gradually overcrowding urban area away from flood zones. Those from lower socioeconomic status, living with a disability, or otherwise without means to relocate are especially vulnerable.

If we keep on our current course, this will be our future generation’s reality by 2100 and beyond. Simply adapting to our changing world by using air conditioning to beat the heat or building defenses against flooding would only delay these inevitable climate and health outcomes. To protect human health now and in the future, Connecticut policy makers and residents must advocate for and implement strong measures to mitigate climate change.

We are the driving force behind greenhouse gas emissions, and now we must be the force that stops and reverses it effects. Climate change is not red vs blue, us vs them; it is us vs ourselves. We must make an immediate effort to ensure a healthy planet that will support healthy future generations. The time for action is now, during the upcoming special session. We need Governor Ned Lamont, Senate President Marin Looney and Speaker Matt Ritter to make it happen. Our future generations are depending on their leadership.

Melissa McCann is a medical student at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine.