Daniel J. Weiss and Robin Pam of the Center for American Progress have a new article on the health impacts of global warming. As they explain, “Some of the most severe health effects linked to global warming include the following”:

  • More illness and death resulting from heat waves.
  • Worsening air pollution causes more respiratory and cardiovascular disease.
  • Vector-borne disease infections will rise.
  • Changing food production and security may cause hunger.
  • More severe and frequent wildfires will threaten more people.
  • Flooding linked to rising sea levels will displace millions.

Already, “WHO now says that 150,000 deaths annually are attributable to the effects of climate change.” And we’ve only warmed about 1.5 degrees F in the past century. We might warm 10 degrees F each century!

The time to act is now.

This post was created for ClimateProgress.org, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.