Climate change threat to public health worse than polio, White House warns
They said it, I believe it, that settles it.
Climate change poses a serious danger to public health – worse than polio in some respects – and will strike especially hard at pregnant women, children, low-income people and communities of color, an authoritative US government report warned on Monday.
The report, The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment, formally unveiled at the White House, warned of sweeping risks to public health from rising temperatures in the coming decades – with increased deaths and illnesses from heat stroke, respiratory failure and diseases such as West Nile virus.
“Climate change” may be the best imaginary hobgoblin our would-be masters ever came up with. It requires no evidence, can contradict itself endlessly with a straight face, demonizes no protected ethnic or religious group, and can only be battled by turning over totalitarian power to the would-be masters. Since it doesn’t exist, they found it necessary to invent it.
For the Children!
Just wait until they figure out that “global COOLING” is even worse and much more frightening. Hoo boy. Yeah, I know, the cooling scare was some time ago, but it’s due for recycling now that the “warming” thing is pretty much ignored by most people. And the hysterical bunch have lots of new ways to spread the insanity. At least it will be a change of pace.
Global cooling/heating, pulmonary diseases, or something else, I don’t so how anyone imagines that we can forever spew megatons of “stuff” into our atmosphere without consequences. To me, it’s seems quite silly to believe otherwise.
That said, I go to neither politicians nor preachers for my science information. Politics, science, and religion; combining any two of these is certain to lead to trouble. Sometimes combining them leads to piles of human bodies!
I wish there was a way to edit our own comments. I meant “see”, not “so”. Sorry!
Volcanoes do it on a regular basis, without serious longterm consequences to anyone not immediately downwind.
Okay, I’m quivering in my boots. Not! We humans been keeping records, for what, 120 years now? And the Geological records say this little blue marble we ride around on goes through climate cycles that last 1,000s if not tens of 1,000s of years. We don’t know anything.
Good Lord, the weatherman can’t get day-to-day changes right so predicting ‘warming’ or ‘cooling’ is a wild guess. The pajama boy we have in the White House needs to stay in his oneies, drink his hot chocolate, watch his Saturday morning comics and Shut-Up.
Joel, volcanoes have done and do more to cause serious long term weather changes than people. Downwind doesn’t matter. The volcano and other ash and crud goes into the atmosphere and circulates worldwide for months, sometimes years/decades. Atmospheric temperatures and wind patterns change. All we need to push all the climate change hysteria over the edge right now is one or two really whopping eruptions. Nothing man can do comes close to a serious natural event (act of god, if you think like that) impact.
I don’t know, I can believe that climate change is a worse threat than something that’s been practically eradicated and only affects people in a tiny handful of impoverished and war-torn areas. For those of us living elsewhere, pretty much _anything_ is a worse public health threat than polio, including paper cuts.
Ken, I charitably assumed the writer meant CC is worse than polio used to be. Of course assuming less than a government-lover’s worst is usually not a very safe bet so I could easily be wrong.
Hi Ben;
I agree with you that we’re tinkering with inputs we don’t understand. Taking steps to reduce or eliminate that is probably good practice.
The problem is the certanty they represent. Let’s fix it because it’s a good idea, not because a bunch of pols lied and scared us into it, but because it’s likely a good idea.
Case in point on this certanty: did you know that during most of the last ice age that co2 levels in our atmosphere were ten times what they are today? How is that possible?
Or try this: it’s been two decades since any reliable measurement has been taken that indicates statistically significant warming?
Or how about this? We have no idea what the hell is going on… why the scare tactics? Power, perhaps?
Changing sugar cubes for Kool Aid? Who knew?
gfa