So far we have discussed how water supply, weather, and food supply will all be affected by climate change. This week, however, we are going to branch away from some of the environmental concerns and discuss health. Did you know that the health of our environment also plays a big role in our physical health, especially when it comes to the spread of infectious diseases, specifically with disease-carrying vectors such as mosquitoes?
Studies show that climate is one of the major factors that influence the distribution of disease-carrying vectors such as mosquitoes and ticks. Insects like these tend to thrive in warmer climates, which is why you are probably used to having to bring out the bug spray when spring rolls around and throughout the summer. In other places around the world (especially closer to the equator), these annoying pests are around all twelve months of the year because of these warmer climates. These same areas are also the hotbeds of diseases carried by these insects that include West Nile virus, Malaria, Zika virus, and many others that are not common in the United States. However, temperatures are increasing in the places where these diseases and the appearance of these insects are not as frequent as others, which is causing scientists to look at a potential pattern where these diseases can become more prevalent as these insects begin to spread out for longer periods of time across the world. While scientists have yet to fully understand the connection because of other complex factors that can play a role in this disease spread, current predictions still show the potential for a future spread if nothing is done about the ongoing climate change issue.
As we can see, climate change can have more personal impacts besides what it does to the land around us. Many of the threats that we have talked about before in this series are ones that we may not normally see with our own two eyes unless we look beyond the surface. This particular risk stands out because it puts our health and well-being at risk in a way that will not be hard to see. We have all dealt with mosquito bites before, but odds are many of us have not had to deal with some of the deadly diseases that they can carry. This can become a pervasive issue if climate change continues at its current pace. This is just another reason why we need to take climate change seriously, so that we can continue to be healthy individuals that will not be put at-risk of any sort of life-threatening diseases like those that can be carried by certain organisms.
-Edible Landscape Initiative