Global Warming And Deforestation Are Spreading Diseases

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GLOBAL WARMING & DEFORESTATION. Are they both spreading diseases?

A recent assessment of climate change and health conducted predicted that global warming will cause or increase incidences of malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, encephalitis and respiratory diseases throughout the world in coming decades. Climate change accelerates the spread of disease primarily because warmer global temperatures enlarge the geographic range in which disease-carrying animals, insects and microorganisms--as well as the germs and viruses they carry--can survive. Analysts believe that, as a result of global temperature rises, diseases that were previously limited only to tropical areas may show up increasingly in other, previously cooler areas. For example, mosquitoes carrying dengue fever used to dwell at elevations no higher than 3,300 feet, but because of warmer temperatures they have recently been detected at 7,200 feet in Colombia’s Andes Mountains. And biologists have found malaria-carrying mosquitoes at higher-than-usual elevations in Indonesia in just the last few years. These changes happen not because of the kinds of extreme heat we’ve experienced in recent months, but occur even with minuscule increases in average temperature. But extreme heat can also be a factor, and the nexus of global warming and disease really hit home for North Americans in the summer of 1999, when 62 cases of West Nile virus were reported in and around New York City. Dr. Dickson, a Columbia University public health professor, reports that West Nile Virus is spread by one species of mosquito that prefers to prey on birds, but which will resort to biting humans when its normal avian targets have fled urban areas during heat waves.

2 Bird flu is another example of a disease that is likely to spread more quickly as the Earth warms up, but for a different reason: A United Nations study found that global warming--in concert with excessive development--is contributing to an increased loss of wetlands around the world. This trend is already forcing disease-carrying migrating birds, who ordinarily seek out wetlands as stopping points, to instead land on animal farms where they mingle with domestic poultry, risking the spread of the disease via animal-to-human and human-to-human contact. A recent assessment of climate change and health conducted predicted that global warming will cause or increased incidences of malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, encephalitis and respiratory diseases throughout the world in coming decades. The assessment also concluded that insect- and rodentborne diseases would become more prevalent throughout the U.S. and Europe. The news is not good for less developed parts of the world either. Researchers have found that more than two-thirds of waterborne disease outbreaks (such as cholera) follow major precipitation events, which are already increasing due to global warming. In South West Asia particularly, the picture is more horrible than other areas. On the Frontiers of Mountains the glaciers are victims of the global warming besides the deforestation which is contributing factor in spreading diseases. It is worth mentioning in context of the global warming earth weather and climate has been changed terribly. The surface of the planet radiates energy derived from the sun back into the space. Atmospheric gases (carbon dioxide, water vapor and other gases) trap some of the outgoing energy retaining heat somewhat like the glass panels of a greenhouse. Without this natural greenhouse effect, temperature would be much lower than they are now, and life as know today would have not been possible. However the problem may appear when the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases increases. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide have increased by nearly 30%, methane concentrations have more than doubled, and nitrous oxide concentrations have risen by about 15%. These increases have enhanced the heat-trapping capability of the earth's atmosphere. Sulfate aerosols, a common air pollutant, cool the atmosphere by reflecting light back into space. However, sulfates are short-lived in the atmosphere and vary regionally. Scientists generally believe that the combustion of fossil fuels and other human activities are the primary reason for the increased concentration of carbon dioxide. Plant respiration and the decomposition of organic matter release more than 10 times the CO2 released by human activities. These releases have generally been in balance during the centuries leading up to the industrial revolution with carbon dioxide absorbed by terrestrial vegetation and the oceans. What has changed in the last few hundred years is the additional release of carbon dioxide by human activities. Fossil fuels burned to run cars and trucks, heat homes and businesses, and power factories are responsible for about 98% of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, 24% of methane emissions, and 18% of nitrous oxide emissions. In 1997, the United States emitted about onefifth of total global greenhouse gases. Estimating future emissions is difficult, because it depends on demographic, economic, institutional, policy and technological developments. Several emissions scenarios have been developed based on differing projections of these underlying factors. By 2100, in the absence of

3 emissions control policies, carbon dioxide concentrations are projected to be 30-150% higher than today's levels. It means surface temperatures have increased 0.5-1.0°F since the late 19th century. The 20th century's 10 warmest years all occurred in the last 15 years of the century. Of these, 1998 was the warmest year on record. The snow covers in the northern hemisphere and floating ice in the Arctic Ocean have both decreased. Globally, sea level has risen 4-8 inches over the past century. Worldwide precipitation over land has increased by about one percent. Another reason of global warming is deforestation which has tremendously contributed towards generation of heat on the earth’s surface. Trees are vitally important to the environment, animals, and of course for us humans. They are important for the climate of the Earth, they act as filters of carbon dioxide, they are habitats and shelters to millions of species, and they are also important for their aesthetic appeal. However, the trees on our planet are being depleted at a very fast rate. According to some estimates, more than 50 percent of the tree cover has disappeared due to human activity. Although humans have been practicing deforestation since ages, it was in the mid-1800s that forests began to be destroyed at an unprecedented rate. As a matter of fact, throughout the earlier part of the medieval age, Europeans used to live amongst vast areas of forested land. But later, they began deforestation at such a high rate that they started to run out of wood for cooking and heating. Also, due to the depletion of their natural habitat, wild game too began disappearing, which the Europeans largely depended upon for their nutritional requirements. Today, parallels can clearly be observed in the deforestation that is occurring in most developing countries. In Pakistan, particularly mountain areas such as Frontier province and Northern areas, the deforestation has become a source of economic assistance. Although the several governmental and non-governmental organizations have taken cognizance of this practice and declared it a penal crime in preferred areas, but practice is still ongoing, which resulted increasing the temperature and change in the weather and climate of such areas. In order to curb such practices which are contributing factor in the global warming, environmental ethics can play a vital role. As such environmental ethics believes in the ethical relationship between human beings and the natural environment. Human beings are a part of the society and so are the other living beings. When we talk about the philosophical principle that guides our life, we often ignore the fact that even plants and animals are a part of our lives. They are an integral part of the environment and hence have a right to be considered a part of the human life. On these lines, it is clear that they should also be associated with our guiding principles as well as our moral and ethical values. We are cutting down forests for our needs. We are continuing with an excessive consumption of natural resources. Their excessive use is resulting in their depletion, risking the life of our future generations. Is this ethical? This is the issue that environmental ethics takes up. Scientists like Rachel Carson and the environmentalists who led philosophers to consider the philosophical aspect of environmental problems, pioneered in the development of environmental ethics as a branch of environmental philosophy. When industrial processes lead to destruction of resources, is it not the industry's responsibility to restore the depleted resources? Moreover, can a restored environment make up for the originally natural one? Mining processes hamper the ecology of certain areas; they may result in the disruption of plant and animal life in those areas. On the other hand, most of the human activities lead to environmental pollution. The overly

4 increasing human population is increasing the human demand for resources like food and shelter. As the population is exceeding the carrying capacity of our planet, natural environments are being used for human inhabitation. Thus human beings are disturbing the balance in the nature. The harm we, as human beings, are causing to the nature, is coming back to us by resulting in a polluted environment and spreading several diseases which we have discussed in the beginning. The imbalance in nature that we have caused is going to disrupt our life as well. But environmental ethics brings about the fact that all the life forms on Earth have a right to live. By destroying the nature, we are depriving these life forms of their right to live. We are going against the true ethical and moral values by disturbing the balance in nature. We are being unethical in treating the plant and animal life forms, which coexist in society. Human beings have certain duties towards their fellow beings. On similar lines, we have a set of duties towards our environment. Environmental ethics says that we should base our behavior on a set of ethical values that guide our approach towards the other living beings in nature. Environmental ethics is about including the rights of non-human animals in our ethical and moral values. Even if the human race is considered the primary concern of society, animals and plants are in no way less important. They have a right to get their fair share of existence. We, the human beings, along with the other forms of life make up our society. We all are a part of the food chain and thus closely associated with each other. We, together form our environment. The conservation of natural resources is not only the need of the day but also our prime duty. We need to observe environmental laws and ethics not only in industrial sector, but in our day-to-day life, we have some moral duties to keep our surroundings pollution free. ******

Author: Naeem Baig. This article has been published in Technobiz Magazine, Lahore Pakistan in its Feb/March, 2009 issue.

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