Climate change analysis predicts increased fatalities from heat waves

international | environment | other press Wednesday May 04, 2011 13:37 by Boris

It may already be too late to stop climate change. Full paper at url.

Global climate change is anticipated to bring more extreme weather phenomena such as heat waves that could impact human health in the coming decades. An analysis led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health calculated that the city of Chicago could experience between 166 and 2,217 excess deaths per year attributable to heat waves using three different climate change scenarios for the final decades of the 21st century. The study was published May 1 edition of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives

"Our study looks to quantify the impact of increased heat waves on human mortality. For major a U.S. city like Chicago, the impact will likely be profound and potentially devastating," said Roger Peng, PhD, lead author of the study and associate professor in the Department of Biostatistics at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. "We would expect the impact to be less severe with mitigation efforts including lowering CO2 emissions."

More information: "Towards a Quantitative Estimate of Future Heat Wave Mortality Under Global Climate Change" Environmental Health Perspectives.