Broken Climate, Broken Hearts

One of the most important social issues we are bombarded with daily is climate change. But why should we care? Why shouldn’t we burn more fossil fuels, use more plastic, and drive longer distances? Don’t all of these things improve our quality of life? While the impacts of climate change may not be perceived to affect humans directly, scientists are discovering that changes in human health caused by climate change are going to be overwhelmingly negative (WHO, 2018), leading to a wide range of health deficits from cardio-respiratory mortality (Brown, 2007), to vector-borne diseases and undernutrition (De Blois et al., 2015).

Though still trivial to some, science has proven that human activity is affecting Earth’s climate (De Blois et al., 2015). Whether it is the burning of fossil fuels leading to increased greenhouse gas concentrations or the excessive farming of ruminant animals that emit methane gas into our atmosphere, there is no doubt that Earth’s temperature is rising and that it’s at least partially our fault. The rate of global warming has quickened to more than 0.18 degrees Celsius per decade over the last 30 years. With this rapid increase in global temperature, one of many climate change outputs, the health of our population is in peril (De Blois et al., 2015).

The main causes of health problems related to climate change are linked to heat exposure and undernutrition (De Blois et al., 2015). According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change one of these heat-related health issues is likely to be heart strain (see Figure 1) (Brown, 2007; De Blois et al., 2015). Large spikes in temperature, whether hot or cold, tend to increase the risk of heart attacks (Chen et al., 2019). It follows that with rapid global warming leading to extreme weather changes and large daily temperature fluctuations, we are likely to see an increasing number of heart attacks (American College of Cardiology, 2018), a health emergency that is already a leading cause of death worldwide (Chen et al., 2019).

But how can we be sure that this correlation is true? Dr. Kai Chen of the Institute of Epidemiology at Helmholtz Sentrum München in Neuherberg, Germany set out to examine the validity of this relationship (Chen et al., 2019). Dr. Chen analyzed the Myocardial Infarction Register of Augsburg, comparing the heart attacks with meteorological data from the day of occurrence. After examining over 27 000 heart attack cases from 1987 to 2014, an increase in heat-induced heart attacks from 2001 to 2014 was found. Likewise, the average daily temperature in these years had also risen when compared to that from 1987 to 2000. It was noted, however, that this increasing temperature would likely also lead to a decrease in cold-related heart attacks, though the degree to which this positive effect would counterbalance the increase in heat-induced heart attacks is not yet known (Chen et al., 2019). Many other studies from parts of the world, including the United States, England, and Canada, have confirmed the same results (De Blois et al., 2015; American College of Cardiology, 2018).

So, we are killing our planet and taking ourselves down with it. But what can we do? Despite the fact that climate change is a global issue, each of us can make a difference (David Suzuki Foundation, 2018). David Suzuki, a leading climate change activist, suggests that one way we can make a change is by voting for governmental parties that promise to strive to find climate solutions involving the reduction of our country’s greenhouse gas emissions (David Suzuki Foundation, 2018; WHO, 2018). Other individual changes we can make include using eating less meat, buying local, reducing food waste, using public transportation, and starting a climate conversation (David Suzuki Foundation, 2018)!

Works Cited

American College of Cardiology, 2018. Heart Attacks Often Follow Extreme Temperature Changes. [online] CardioSmart. Available at: <https://www.cardiosmart.org/News-and-Events/2018/03/Climate-Change-May-Increase-Heart-Attack-Risk> [Accessed 14 Nov. 2019].

Brown, H., 2007. Reducing the impact of climate change. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, [online] 85(11), pp.824–825. https://doi.org/10.2471/BLT.07.011107

Chen, K., Breitner, S., Wolf, K., Hampel, R., Meisinger, C., Heier, M., Scheidt, W.V., Kuch, B., Peters, A., Schneider, A., Peters, A., Schulz, H., Schwettmann, L., Leidl, R., Heier, M. and Strauch, K., 2019. Temporal variations in the triggering of myocardial infarction by air temperature in Augsburg, Germany, 1987–2014. European Heart Journal, [online] 40(20), pp.1600–1608. https://doi.org.10.1093/eurheartj/ehz116

David Suzuki Foundation, 2018. Top 10 things you can do about climate change. [online] David Suzuki Foundation One nature. Available at: <https://davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-do/top-10-ways-can-stop-climate-change/> [Accessed 14 Nov. 2019].

De Blois, J., Kjellstrom, T., Agewall, S., Ezekowitz, J.A., Armstrong, P.W. and Atar, D., 2015. The Effects of Climate Change on Cardiac Health. Cardiology, [online] 131, pp.209–217. https://doi.org/10.1159/000398787

WHO, 2018. Climate change and health. [online] World Health Organization. Available at: <https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health> [Accessed 14 Nov. 2019].