A Warming Planet Means More Disease-carrying Mosquitoes
My brilliant young nephew Garrett Shields, with his recently earned masters degree in public health, is pursuing a career in epidemiology, making him a fabulously interesting guy to talk to about climate change. As suggested in this video, a warming planet is extending the disease-carrying mosquito season in much of the world, bringing increased risk and incidence of:
- Zika Virus
- Malaria
- West Nile virus
- Dengue fever
- Yellow fever
More here.
Yes, there are a few ways that global warming is making life better, e.g., longer growing seasons in countries in high latitudes and creating shorter shipping routes through the previously frozen arctic. Yet this is far outweighed by the dozens of different ways climate change is damaging this planet and the quality of life of almost everyone and every other living thing on it.
That’s terrible! Mosquitoes are already bad enough, now we have to deal with them for longer periods of time, while they’re carrying tons of deadly diseases. To make it worse, Trump is refusing to follow Obama’s clean power plan and just making it worse for everyone.