It is true that climate change has taken place dramatically over the course of the Earth's 4.5 billion-year history. However, we are witnessing an increasingly rapid change. The kind of changes that would normally happen over hundreds or thousands of years are presently happening in decades. This much faster warming corresponds with levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which have been increasing since the industrial revolution. So, when people talk about climate change today, they mean anthropogenic (man-made) climate change. This is the warming of Earth’s average temperature as a result of human activity. This is the legacy we are leaving to our children and grandchildren with our greed for cheaper resources, he overwhelming machinery of unsustainable progress and our neglect reflected in the phrase "I will not live to see it." The most reprehensible aspect of this negligence is that the most affected by our decisions today are precisely our own children. This report by Time Health shows us in a nutshell the effects of global warming on their susceptible wellbeing.
How climate change affects kids' health
Global temperatures are continuing to rise—and the health of children is being clobbered in the process. In a sweeping study just published in The Lancet, investigators from 35 institutions—including the World Health Organization, Imperial College London, The University of York, Yale University and Iran University of Medical Sciences—analyzed the planet’s climatological health on 41 indices, such as the rising incidence of floods, wildfires and mosquito-borne diseases; adaptation and mitigation steps being taken to address the problems; and economic resources being devoted to that work. They found that while progress is being made, too many trend lines continue to point downward. We will all pay a price for that, but today’s children will pay the highest.
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