Medical journals warn of an even bigger health threat than COVID
More than 230 publications said unchecked climate change could have “catastrophic” and irreversible consequences for global health.
COVID-19 has upended daily life like nothing else this century. It has shuttered economies, plunged millions into economic uncertainty, and killed 4.5 million and counting since the start of last year. For these reasons and many more, the pandemic has dominated any discussion around public health. But medical experts are warning of an even worse threat.
More than 230 medical journals came together on Sunday to name climate change as the “greatest threat to global public health,” calling on world leaders to take immediate action to limit global warming and the destruction of the natural world. Climate-related extreme weather is already exacting a heavy toll on people worldwide, the editorial said, and things will only get worse if global temperatures climb 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above levels in the early 19th century. The world has already warmed 1.1 degrees C (2 degrees F).
“No temperature rise is ‘safe,’” the authors warned, saying that a failure to act now would have cataclysmic, irreversible consequences for human health. “Despite the world’s necessary preoccupation with COVID-19, we cannot wait for the pandemic to pass to rapidly reduce emissions.”
https://grist.org/climate/medical-journals-warn-bigger-health-threat-covid/
