Forbes and Forrester are wrong about climate change harming human well-being – have a problem with that?

from climaterealism

Author: Linny Luken

A recent article in Forbes The article titled “Climate Change is a Health Crisis: A Call to Action for Human Well-Being” written by Bill Frist repeatedly reiterates that climate change threatens and is already actively harming human health. This is wrong. Many of the conditions Frist claims are getting worse are not actually getting worse, while others lack enough data to blame climate change.

Frist, a doctor and former Republican majority leader of the U.S. Senate, was the first to blame climate change for the still-burning Los Angeles wildfires and recent hurricanes and heat waves. climate realism Why these are not due to the mild warming of the last century, regardless of human contributions, are touched upon here , here , and here respectively.

“The connection is undeniable: the planet's gradual warming, increasing extreme weather patterns, and biodiversity loss are reshaping the conditions necessary for human survival, with profound consequences for the well-being of each of us, no matter what,” Forrester writes. Today or tomorrow. He lists several ways this could happen, and while we won’t go into detail about each of them in this article, none of his points breaks new ground—each claim is based on Such a false premise: Climate change is a catastrophic threat.

Frist's first argument was about “heat stress and chronic disease,” claiming that heat waves are “becoming the norm” and killing people. This argument misses the bigger picture. While heat-related deaths did increase slightly globally, we conveniently ignore the discussion because cold-related deaths have dropped significantly, more than twice as much as heat-related deaths. Peer-reviewed studies consistently show that cold temperatures kill far more people than hot temperatures. Therefore, as discussed in Climate Overview: Temperature-Related Deaths, recent moderate warming has resulted in a large net decrease in temperature-related deaths globally.

For the U.S., EPA data shows an increase in the number of unusually hot days no It's been increasing. Meteorologist Anthony Watts explains in “Media Chases ‘Climate-Enhanced’ Heat Waves, But Misses Data Showing Less Frequent Heat Waves,” “Since 1948, only 19% of weather stations have reported anomalies The number of hot days increased. Other weather stations reported either a decrease in the number of unusually hot days or no change at all.

Air pollution that causes respiratory problems is another issue that is linked to climate change in the first place: Group pollution associated with burning fossil fuels with smoke from wildfires, “ground-level ozone produced by chemical reactions of air pollutants, and Fine aerosols can cause respiratory illnesses such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

In this broadside, Frist illegally conflated several different issues of concern and linked them to climate change when no such connection actually exists. Any health problems caused by particulate pollution or ozone from fossil fuel use are not related to climate change. In fact, both types of pollution have declined even as the planet warms modestly.

Smoke from wildfires may be unhealthy, but wildfires don’t get worse because climate realism It has been shown dozens of times that climate change is not causing wildfires to produce more smoke.

As it stands, America has never had cleaner air. Emissions of common pollutants such as ozone, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide and volatile organic compounds have declined, according to the EPA. (see picture below)

Frist also claims, as others have wrongly asserted before him, that vector-borne diseases such as malaria will increase and pressure on ecosystems will lead to more human-animal contact and more zoonotic diseases . In Climate Overview: Malaria and Mosquito-Borne Diseases, our World Data visualization's World Health Organization (WHO) data shows very clearly that malaria has been declining over time, but increased in 2020 due to restrictions. Providing assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is also a large body of scientific literature from disease experts (compiled in Chapter 4 of Rethinking Climate Change II: Fossil Fuels) showing that moderate warming will not necessarily lead to more of these diseases. Current disease data do not support the climate worsening theory. In addition to climate change, there are other factors driving the spread of insect-borne diseases. For example, the presence of standing water is a big factor in mosquito-borne diseases. Simple measures such as using bed nets and spraying insecticides can reduce incidence more significantly than moderate warming that expands the areas where disease-carrying mosquitoes can exist.

One of Frist's most shocking and offensive claims is linking “mental health and climate anxiety,” claiming that extreme weather causes “increased rates of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).” This is Frist’s self-deception and projection. Extreme weather isn't actually getting worse. So what really fuels the fear of climate change is the narrative constantly promoted by alarmists like Frist and the mainstream media that every natural disaster is caused by climate change and is getting worse — that The statement has no factual basis.

Losing a home or a loved one in a natural disaster is truly painful, but, as discussed here , here , and here , it is the media that exacerbates “climate anxiety” and other mental issues related to climate change. It is false doom-mongering reports, not measurements of climate change, that generate unfounded climate fears. “Climate anxiety” is entirely a construct of the media alarmist industry, telling people they should be afraid of an existential crisis that exists only within their own echo chambers. The data doesn’t show that the Earth is rapidly becoming “uninhabitable,” but that’s the narrative that Frist and his colleagues are pushing in the media.

forrest and Forbes There have long been unfounded claims that weather is becoming more unpredictable and extreme, when long-term data shows that is not the case, and that climate change poses an existential threat to human life and health, which is not the case. They mislead readers in order to stimulate environmental action, but instead create despair and fear. This is disgraceful behavior.