Many people have caught on to an alarming new trend: there seems to be a lot more diseases going around lately. First it was the Ebola outbreak, then COVID-19 which became the global pandemic that it is today, and now Mpox, which has been spreading around the world and was declared a public health emergency in the US on August 4th, 2022. Why are there so many diseases spreading everywhere all the sudden? What happened? An in-depth study that combined data from 830 previous studies shows that global climate change is behind this increase in diseases going around. Unfortunately, the data suggest that more new diseases could be on the way in years to come if we don’t reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Evidence that climate change influences different infectious diseases and allergies is not new; science has been documenting these trends for decades. However, this study aimed to combine all the research on the influence of climate change on infectious diseases to get the big picture. The researchers were interested in getting an idea of how many infectious diseases can be made more common by climate change and outlining all the different ways that this can happen. To do this, the researchers combed through thousands of research articles to find all the studies they could that examined the effects of climate change on each of the different viruses, bacteria, parasites, and allergens that make humans sick. This amounted to 830 studies.

After reviewing the data from all these studies, the researchers found that climate change could make more than half (58%) of all the organisms known to cause disease more common. They also found that there were over 1,000 ways that this could happen. The greenhouse gases that cause climate change can cause the temperature to increase, change the weather, make droughts occur, lead to flooding, and many other impacts. The research shows that all of these different changes can each change how and where viruses, bacteria, and other disease-causing organism spread. One common way that climate change has been found to make infectious diseases more widespread is by changing animals’ habitats. When global warming from green-house gases causes the temperature and weather to change, it also causes animals to migrate to different locations. When animals move to different places, they are more likely to come in contact with humans and spread new viruses and bacteria to us. Some of the animals that change locations are ticks and mosquitos which spread a lot of different diseases, such as Lyme disease or malaria. Birds and rodents also change locations and can spread new diseases to humans either directly or by getting closer to the livestock that we eat, like cows and chickens.

In other cases, climate change also makes it easier for certain viruses and bacteria to multiply and spread. For example, warmer temperatures in the air or water make it easier for some viruses and bacteria to live. Because of all the diseases that are made more common by climate change in many different ways, the researchers conclude that we need to act quickly to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to control these diseases. This study suggests that it may be too much to try and control all of these diseases individually. In the meantime, there are some things we can do. You can learn more about steps you can take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at 10 ways you can help fight the climate crisis. In summary, some actions you can take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and climate change in general are:

1. Clean up garbage and don’t leave garbage lying around; don’t litter.
2. Don’t waste food, use all of the food you get and avoid throwing out food.
3. Turn off lights, TVs, and other electronics when you’re not using them.
4. Use cars less often and try walking or biking more, if you need to get around use public transportation (like buses and trains).
5. If you can, use solar power. Install solar panels on the roof of your house. Depending on how much sunlight you get, the state of Connecticut may give you solar panels for free. Learn more at How To Get Free Solar Panels in Connecticut.
6. Eat more fruit and veggies and less meat. While it is okay to eat meat, producing meat causes a lot of greenhouse gas emissions. Less meat = less emissions.
7. Buy from local businesses and farms. Local products lead to less emissions from shipping and special storage.
8. Avoid ‘fast-fashion’ (buying clothes that you only wear a few times before throwing out) and instead buy clothes that last a long time.
9. Create political pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, tell public officials to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and vote for politicians who have policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
10. Buy from and invest in companies that work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Beyond this, one of the best things we can do to prevent getting or spreading new diseases is to practice good hygiene. 

Greenhouse gas emissions – Greenhouse gas emissions are gases that come from burning coal, oil, or natural gas. Greenhouse gases trap energy that comes from the sun in the Earth’s atmosphere, keeping our planet warm. By keeping in heat these gases work the same way a greenhouse works for plants, hence the name greenhouse gases. Global warming and climate change happen because there are too many greenhouse gases in the atmosphere which trap too much heat from the sun. The most common greenhouse gases that come from greenhouse gas emissions are carbon dioxide and methane gas.

Allergen – something that causes an allergic reaction.

Mora, C., McKenzie, T., Gaw, I. M., Dean, J. M., von Hammerstein, H., Knudson, T. A., ... & Franklin, E. C. (2022). Over half of known human pathogenic diseases can be aggravated by climate change. Nature Climate Change, 1-7.

UN Environment Program. (2022, May 4). 10 ways you can help fight the climate crisis. UN Environment Program. https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/10-ways-you-can-help-fight-climate-crisis

UN Environment Program. (2022, May 4). 10 ways you can help fight the climate crisis. UN Environment Program. https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/10-ways-you-can-help-fight-climate-crisis