This article talks about the relation of deaths and climate change, which is an extremely interesting correlation to make. It talks about climate change not only being a change in the temperature of the weather, but also having longer and increased heat periods that our bodies are not used to.
Researchers at the Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine investigated what mortality rates have to do with extreme temperatures. They found out that from 1980-2009, in Stockholm, there was a significantly larger amount of extremely high temperatures, and during these heat waves, there was 300 deaths, that were purely discovered to be deaths associated with climate. These heat waves are not something that are bodies are used to, and even though we have had heat waves before, they were never as long and as strong as now.
Stockholm was known for it's strong and cold winters, which have over the years become much milder due to global warming. Even though these extra deaths might not seem like a lot, they are rapidly increasing, and there is a danger of them becoming more severe. The findings of these researchers suggest that the bodies of people, not just in Sweden, but all over the world, are not adapting well to these changes, and may be in a problem if the temperature continues going up, and the heat waves increase in length and strength.
It would be interesting to study the effect climate would have in some other places over the world, where the temperatures are not as drastic as in Sweden. Overall, everyone is aware of the dangers of global warming, but are we aware that it might be having an effect on our life span?
Aleksandra, you bring up some good points. I wonder if this will affect the global average life span. It makes me think of the changes in climate I have witnessed in my 17 years of living here in Belgrade. When I first came, winter's were normal, springs were predictably cold and wet, and summers were hot but not too bad. By the time 2010 came around, winters were becoming less predictable, spring seemed to disappear and so did fall, and it seemed like we went right from winter into summer and summer into winter. Now, summer's are scorching. So hot like standing close to an inferno...climate change is happening, but humans have not had time to adapt to these changes, especially those of us living in temperate zones.
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