GUELORGET Laurne, RICM3

English: Essay

The worlds climate is changing, and the changes will have a huge impact on our planets people, ecosystems, biodiversity and energy use. All of these direct consequences have one thing in common: they put human health in jeopardy. Indeed, climate change is responsible for several diseases and issues in our way of living.

Humans are creating climate change by burning large amounts of fossil fuels, like coal, oil or natural gas, and by cutting down forests. In fact, global warming is mainly due to deforestation. Over the last hundred years, Earth has warmed at a quickening pace. Global warming directly leads to stratospheric ozone depletion which then allows UV to go through the atmosphere. Hence, they are more aggressive towards the human skin and cause more cancers or severe skin diseases. Water is one of the key reasons that life has first flourished on Earth. Water in its liquid form is paramount for all life and ecological function. The amount of freshwater declines because of the altered precipitation climate change brings about. The direct consequence of this phenomenon is that accessing to water is becoming harder and harder in underdeveloped countries, which affects human health in these very same countries. The other main effect is the biodiversity loss. Indeed, owing to the decrease of several ecosystems, some species are fast disappearing. Furthermore, desertification gives rise to the decline of agroecosystem productivity. Desertification is a consequence of climatic variations and low freshwater availability, which is a result of global warming as seen previously. Yet, a balanced ecosystem is indispensable to the Earths survival. The rate of desertification is so fast that plants and animals do not have enough time to genetically adapt. Consequently, the loss of flora and fauna affects local populations who depend on these resources to live.

To conclude, climate change presents a major and growing issue to the world. While the concerns it is generating are important now, their implications are even bigger for future generations that will have to bear the consequences of our current actions. Strong and rapid solutions to reduce deforestation are required in order to restrain the human-induced global warming and thus their impact on human health.