White House: Warming Poses Urgent Health Risk

Climate change is a major threat to human health, with extreme heat likely to kill 27,000 Americans annually by 2100, according to released Monday by the White House.The report, by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, outlines numerous ways global warming could devastate public health in the United States this century.

 PLAY VIDEO

Which Countries Will Flood Most With Climate Change?

A new analysis from a climate change organization estimates which coastal countries can expect the most regular flooding by the year 2100.

DCI

Global warming will lead toso extreme that in the hottest times of the year, it will be physiologically impossible” for people who work outdoors to do their jobs, John Holdren, a science advisor to the Obama administration, said during a news conference about the report.

People who work outdoors will be unable to control their body temperature and will die,” he said. “This is a really, really big deal.”

A 2015 Climate Central analysis of climate threats through 2050 for all 50 states, found heat to be the greatest threat of all, and the one for which most states, particularly high-risk states in the South, were poorly prepared.

Climate change will pose a major health threat to people of color, indigenous people and low-income communities, according to the report. It will lead to worsening air pollution, expose more people to waterborne illnesses, leave the American food supply vulnerable to a greater number of toxins and will potentially devastate the U.S. healthcare infrastructure as it becomes exposed to extreme weather.By the end of the century, climate change will kill many tens of thousands of people every year in the United States because of disease and more extreme heat waves, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, winds, lightning, cold snaps and winter storms, the report said.

“For the first time in history we’ve been able to show it’s not just about polar bears and melting ice caps, it’s about our families and about our future,” Gina McCarthy, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, said. “Every part of the U.S. is impacted now by climate and is going to be increasingly impacted if we do not take action now to reduce those impacts.”

The 332-page report, with contributions from hundreds of scientists from universities across the country, was released as part of the Obama administration’s Climate Action Plan. The plan aims to reduce the U.S. contribution to global warming by cutting greenhouse gas emissions by up to 28 percent by 2025. The U.S. is a party to the, which aims to keep global warming from exceeding 2°C (3.6°F).