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Health and Environmental Effects
Related Links
EPA
U.S. Global Change Research Program
Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation in California
IPCC Working Group II 
- Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
- Fourth Assessment Report, Chapter 14, North America (PDF, 36 pp., 895 kb, About PDF)
Pew Center Report
- A Synthesis of Potential Climate Change Impacts on the U.S.
- U.S. Market Consequences of Global Climate Change
World Health Organization
- Climate Change and Health
National Academy of Science
- Climate Stabilization Targets: Emissions, Concentrations, and Impacts over Decades of Millenia
- America's Climate Choices
Many elements of human society and the environment are sensitive to climate variability and change. Human health, agriculture, natural ecosystems, coastal areas, and heating and cooling requirements are examples of climate-sensitive systems.
Rising average temperatures are already affecting the environment. Some observed changes include shrinking of glaciers, thawing of permafrost, later freezing and earlier break-up of ice on rivers and lakes, lengthening of growing seasons, shifts in plant and animal ranges and earlier flowering of trees (IPCC, 2007).
Global temperatures are expected to continue to rise as human activities continue to add carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and other greenhouse (or heat-trapping) gases to the atmosphere. Most of the United States is expected to experience an increase in average temperature (IPCC, 2007). Precipitation changes, which are also very important to consider when assessing climate change effects, are more difficult to predict. Whether or not rainfall will increase or decrease remains difficult to project for specific regions.
The extent of climate change effects, and whether these effects prove harmful or beneficial, will vary by region, over time, and with the ability of different societal and environmental systems to adapt to or cope with the change.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007) concludes that “impacts of climate change will vary regionally but, aggregated and discounted to the present, they are very likely to impose net annual costs which will increase over time as global temperatures increase.” The IPCC estimates that for increases in global mean temperature of less than 1-3°C (1.8-5.4°F) above 1990 levels, some places and sectors will see beneficial impacts while others will experience harmful ones. Some low-latitude and polar regions are expected to experience net costs even for small increases in temperature. For increases in temperature greater than 2-3°C (3.6-5.4°F), the IPCC says it is very likely that all regions will experience either declines in net benefits or increases in net costs. “Taken as a whole,” the IPCC concludes, “the range of published evidence indicates that the net damage costs of climate change are likely to be significant and to increase over time.”
The following links provide more detailed information on the human health and environmental effects of climate change:
- Health
- Agriculture and Food Supply
- Forests
- Ecosystems and Biodiversity
- Coastal Zones and Sea Level Rise
- Water Resources
- Energy Production and Use
- Public Lands and Recreation
- U.S. Regions
- Polar Regions
- International
- Extreme Events
- Adaptation
References
- IPCC, 2007: Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Parry, Martin L., Canziani, Osvaldo F., Palutikof, Jean P., van der Linden, Paul J., and Hanson, Clair E. (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 1000 pp.