Extreme heat

Citation

(2001), "Extreme heat", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 10 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2001.07310cag.003

Extreme heat

Extreme heat

Physicians for Social Responsibility and Ozone Actionhttp://www.ozone.org/heatstresshttp://www.psr.org/heatsheet.html

On July 26, (2000), Physicians for Social Responsibility and Ozone Action, a national environmental organization, released a report showing that extreme heat waves and overheated nights are becoming more frequent in cities and regions across the USA. Indeed, the report, Heat Waves and Hot Nights, states that in the USA the number of heat waves, high heat index days, and extremely warm nights has doubled since the 1950s and that each summer 2,000-3,000 people now die due to this hazard. Moreover, the findings in this report support predictions made in the draft National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change in the US (see above), which cites warmer temperatures, a higher heat index, and increased frequency of extreme weather events as potential impacts of human-induced global warming. Heat Waves and Hot Nights, including graphs of 171 individual cities and regional trends, is available from the Ozone Action Web site above, and more information about climate change and health impacts is available from the second address, part of the Web site for Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Scientific Americanhttp://www.scientificamerican.com/2000/0800issue/0800epstein.html

Besides the report mentioned above, readers interested in the health problems associated with global warming might also want to see the cover article from the August 2000 issue of Scientific American, "Is Global Warming Harmful to Health?" by Paul R. Epstein of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School.

According to Epstein, computer models indicate that many diseases will surge as the earth's atmosphere heats up, and signs of the predicted troubles have already begun to appear. With both increased drought and increased weather extremes, including flooding, societies will suffer not only directly from these natural hazards, but also from the increased occurrence of both mosquito-borne and water-borne diseases. Epstein's prescription includes improved surveillance, better prediction, and actions that directly attack global warming itself. Nonetheless, he worries "that effective corrective measures will not be instituted soon enough, [that] the multiple factors that are now destabilizing the global climate system could cause it to jump abruptly out of its current state, [and that] such a sudden, catastrophic change is the ultimate health risk – one that must be avoided at all costs."