Discuss the difference between anthropogenic and natural causes attributed to climate change.
Discuss whether or not you classify climate change as the major environmental health challenge
of the 21st century. Explain your reasoning and provide evidence to support your claim
Difference between anthropogenic and natural causes attributed to climate change
Anthropogenic climate changes are considered to be changes that are induced by a human, this is
is a result of human activities that affect the natural climate patterns. These human activities
include but not limited to deforestation, agricultural activities that alter the land composition,
burning of fossil fuels and release of gases into the air (Stern & Kaufmann, 2013). On the other
hand, natural climate changes are caused by changes on the plane which are characterized by the
energy that is incoming and outgoing. As the name states, natural climate changes are not
influenced by human activities but rather changes in the natural climate cycle on earth (Stern &
Kaufmann, 2013).
Climate change a major health challenge of the 21st century
I classify climate change as the major environmental health challenge in the 21 st century.
Some of the major impacts of climate change such as floods, heatwaves, and fires are a threat to
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human health and health systems in the world. For instance, the risk of infectious diseases that
are rapidly spreading ad causing deaths in different parts of the world is increased by heatwaves.
People getting exposed to heatwaves suffer from diseases such as dengue fever which results in
the death of many people in affected areas (Goering, 2018). On the other hand, health systems
suffer from a financial crisis while dealing with such diseases, in terms of control and treatment.
At a press conference held by scientists in the United States, climate change in the 21 st century
was considered a major threat that is so severe on human health. The study revealed that there
was a significant increase in the number of people vulnerable to heatwaves. The numbers are
said to have increased between 125 million in sixteen years between 2000 and 2016 (Goering,
2018).
References
Goering, L. (n.d.). Climate change ‘biggest global health threat’ of century, doctors warn.
Stern, D. I., & Kaufmann, R. K. (2013). Anthropogenic and natural causes of climate change.
Climatic Change, 122(1-2), 257-269. doi:10.1007/s10584-013-1007-x
