SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Twenty-five households in Isle De Jean Charles, Louisiana, had to leave their home last year due to rising sea levels, becoming the United States' first climate refugees. (Photo: @TulaneNews/Twitter)
Lancet Study Warns of Global Health Crisis and 1 Billion Climate Refugees by 2050
"We are only just beginning to feel the impacts of climate change."
Oct 31, 2017
Climate change could force a billion people from their homes by 2050, potentially triggering major health crises around the world, according to a new study.
The Lancet's annual Countdown report calls on governments to act quickly to fight pollution and other factors that have exacerbated climate change, leading to public health issues.
"We are only just beginning to feel the impacts of climate change," said Professor Hugh Montgomery, co-chair of the Lancet Countdown, in an interview with the Independent. "Any small amount of resilience we may take for granted today will be stretched to breaking point sooner than we may imagine.
The report found that "migration driven by climate change has potentially severe impacts on mental and physical health, both directly and by disrupting essential health and social services."
The research also found that more humans are being exposed to extreme heatwaves and air pollution and are more commonly at risk for mosquito-borne illnesses than in past decades, due to climate change.
More than one hundred million adults over the age of 65 have been exposed to dangerously hot conditions since the turn of the 21st century, while 71 percent of cities tracked by the World Health Organization have dangerous levels of air pollution.
Dengue fever has become nearly 10 percent more prevalent around the world since 1950, due to warm conditions that allow mosquitoes to thrive for much of the year.
Already, says the report, at least 4400 people have been forced to migrate with climate change being the sole reason for fleeing their homes.
Refugees who have already been forced from their homes due to climate change include 1200 residents of the Carteret Islands in Papua New Guinea who fled because of rising sea levels, 3500 Alaskans who escaped coastal erosion due to melting ice, and at least 25 people who left southern Louisiana, also because of a disintegrating coastline.
The study also notes that the impacts of global warming, including drought and other conditions that can negatively affect agriculture and people's livelihoods, can set in motion a chain of events that make regions ripe for violent conflicts.
"For example, in Syria," the study reads, "many attribute the initial and continued conflict to the rural to urban migration that resulted from a climate change-induced drought."
While the issues leading to wars are complex, the Lancet continues, "climate change, as a threat multiplier and an accelerant of instability, is often thought of as important in exacerbating the likelihood of conflict."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Climate change could force a billion people from their homes by 2050, potentially triggering major health crises around the world, according to a new study.
The Lancet's annual Countdown report calls on governments to act quickly to fight pollution and other factors that have exacerbated climate change, leading to public health issues.
"We are only just beginning to feel the impacts of climate change," said Professor Hugh Montgomery, co-chair of the Lancet Countdown, in an interview with the Independent. "Any small amount of resilience we may take for granted today will be stretched to breaking point sooner than we may imagine.
The report found that "migration driven by climate change has potentially severe impacts on mental and physical health, both directly and by disrupting essential health and social services."
The research also found that more humans are being exposed to extreme heatwaves and air pollution and are more commonly at risk for mosquito-borne illnesses than in past decades, due to climate change.
More than one hundred million adults over the age of 65 have been exposed to dangerously hot conditions since the turn of the 21st century, while 71 percent of cities tracked by the World Health Organization have dangerous levels of air pollution.
Dengue fever has become nearly 10 percent more prevalent around the world since 1950, due to warm conditions that allow mosquitoes to thrive for much of the year.
Already, says the report, at least 4400 people have been forced to migrate with climate change being the sole reason for fleeing their homes.
Refugees who have already been forced from their homes due to climate change include 1200 residents of the Carteret Islands in Papua New Guinea who fled because of rising sea levels, 3500 Alaskans who escaped coastal erosion due to melting ice, and at least 25 people who left southern Louisiana, also because of a disintegrating coastline.
The study also notes that the impacts of global warming, including drought and other conditions that can negatively affect agriculture and people's livelihoods, can set in motion a chain of events that make regions ripe for violent conflicts.
"For example, in Syria," the study reads, "many attribute the initial and continued conflict to the rural to urban migration that resulted from a climate change-induced drought."
While the issues leading to wars are complex, the Lancet continues, "climate change, as a threat multiplier and an accelerant of instability, is often thought of as important in exacerbating the likelihood of conflict."
Climate change could force a billion people from their homes by 2050, potentially triggering major health crises around the world, according to a new study.
The Lancet's annual Countdown report calls on governments to act quickly to fight pollution and other factors that have exacerbated climate change, leading to public health issues.
"We are only just beginning to feel the impacts of climate change," said Professor Hugh Montgomery, co-chair of the Lancet Countdown, in an interview with the Independent. "Any small amount of resilience we may take for granted today will be stretched to breaking point sooner than we may imagine.
The report found that "migration driven by climate change has potentially severe impacts on mental and physical health, both directly and by disrupting essential health and social services."
The research also found that more humans are being exposed to extreme heatwaves and air pollution and are more commonly at risk for mosquito-borne illnesses than in past decades, due to climate change.
More than one hundred million adults over the age of 65 have been exposed to dangerously hot conditions since the turn of the 21st century, while 71 percent of cities tracked by the World Health Organization have dangerous levels of air pollution.
Dengue fever has become nearly 10 percent more prevalent around the world since 1950, due to warm conditions that allow mosquitoes to thrive for much of the year.
Already, says the report, at least 4400 people have been forced to migrate with climate change being the sole reason for fleeing their homes.
Refugees who have already been forced from their homes due to climate change include 1200 residents of the Carteret Islands in Papua New Guinea who fled because of rising sea levels, 3500 Alaskans who escaped coastal erosion due to melting ice, and at least 25 people who left southern Louisiana, also because of a disintegrating coastline.
The study also notes that the impacts of global warming, including drought and other conditions that can negatively affect agriculture and people's livelihoods, can set in motion a chain of events that make regions ripe for violent conflicts.
"For example, in Syria," the study reads, "many attribute the initial and continued conflict to the rural to urban migration that resulted from a climate change-induced drought."
While the issues leading to wars are complex, the Lancet continues, "climate change, as a threat multiplier and an accelerant of instability, is often thought of as important in exacerbating the likelihood of conflict."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.