Extreme weather from climate change triggered hunger in nearly 100 million people and increased heat deaths by 68% in vulnerable populations worldwide as the world's"fossil fuel addiction" degrades public health each year, doctors reported in a new study.
In the annual Lancet Countdown, which looks at climate change and health, nearly 100 researchers across the globe highlighted 43 indicators where climate change is making people sicker or weaker, with a new look at hunger added this year.In praising the report, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres put it even more bluntly than the doctors:"The climate crisis is killing us."
"Can I say that every bit of food insecurity is due to climate change? Of course not. But we think that in this complex web of causes, it is a very significant contributor and it's only going to get worse," said pediatrician Dr. Anthony Costello, Lancet Countdown co-chair and head of the University College of London's Global Health Institute.
The air pollution from burning coal, oil and gas also pollutes the air, causing about 1.2 million deaths a year worldwide from small particles in the air, the scientists and report said. The 1.2 million figure is based on"immense scientific evidence," Harvard's Salas said. Both air pollution and heat deaths are bigger problems for the elderly and the very young and especially the poor, said University of Louisville environmental health professor Natasha DeJarnett, a study co-author.