Global Warming

Global Warming

Great amounts of scientific evidence supports the fact that global warming is occurring and that climate change impacts every living organism on earth. This planet is trying to hold a growing human population and global warming will only get worse if humans do not try to fix the mess they have caused. One of the many ways global warming is negatively affecting our planet is allowing disease to spread faster to a wider range of places to infect other populations. In addition, the impact global warming has had on oceans has lead to climate change and also has lead to harming the vast amounts of marine life that live under its surface.

Climate change affects the rate disease spread by impacting the population size and range of hosts, the length of the transmission season, and the timing and intensity of outbreaks. Warmer temperatures and more moisture will allow disease-carrying insects, rodents, and snails to cover more places and be active during more seasons. Some diseases that will and already have become more prominent include malaria, dengue fever, and yellow fever. Extreme weather events that will also become more severe with climate change, like heavy rainfall or droughts, usually trigger disease outbreaks. The World Health Organization says global warming could lead to a major increase in insect-borne diseases in Britain and Europe, as northern Europe becomes warmer, ticks (encephalitis/lyme disease) and sand flies (visceral leishmaniasis) may move in. The World Health Organization estimates 150,000 deaths annually "as a result of climate change", of which half are in the Asia-Pacific region. According to A;LSD just a three degree global temperature rise by year 2100 could increase the number of annual malaria cases by 50-80 million. Disease is just one way that humans and other living organisms are affected by global warming which is why we should try to slow the rate of which the climate is changing or else there will be more deaths due to illnesses that we could have prevented.

Global warming can also lead to diseases affecting more plants and animals that then lead to a declining population or even extinction if the species is endangered. One example is marine diseases that are spreading and new ones that are surfacing to our attention. This happens for a variety of reasons. For example, with higher sea surface temperatures there is an increase of stress on corals, which increase susceptibility to infection. This leads me to discuss the impact global warming has on marine organisms through coral bleaching. Oceans play a major role in global warming since they mainly control the climate. The oceans work as a sink for carbon dioxide since they take up much that would otherwise remain in the atmosphere. However, with increased levels of carbon dioxide the result is ocean acidification. According to LASFJK it is estimated that oceans currently absorb about one