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Global Climate Change and Public Health pp 1–20Cite as

Introduction: Consequences of Global Warming to the Public’s Health

Part of the Respiratory Medicine book series (RM,volume 7)

Abstract

Global warming from anthropogenic-derived greenhouse gases has consequences including climate change and public health risks. Measurements of these changes began in 1959 with the International Geophysical Year where CO2 was measured atop Mauna Loa in Hawaii. CO2 measurements were 316 ppm in 1959, and annual averages have increased until 2010 where it was 389.8 ppm. In 2010 the increase was 2.4 ppm, the largest 1-year increase recorded since 1998. CO2 represents about 63 % of the greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases reflect infrared radiation back to the earth’s surface causing a warming effect. Global warming has a major effect on climate over time which differentiates climate change from weather which is short-term changes over hours or days. CO2 has major sinks such as the oceans and peat bogs across the Arctic and taiga, and CO2 is utilized by plants and forests in metabolism. Anthropogenic sources through burning oil and natural gas for transportation or heating, burning of forest lands for slash and burn agriculture, or burning coal have emitted CO2 increasing substantially since the industrial revolution. This has been efficiently stored in CO2 sinks. Only over the past 50 years have anthropogenic sources been prodigious enough to actually exceed the natural sinks and increase the global recordings of greenhouse gases and temperature.

Keywords

  • Greenhouse gases
  • CO2 measurements
  • Anthropogenic sources
  • Radiative forcing
  • Biosphere consequences
  • Vector-borne diseases
  • Human health
  • Social stability

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, 550 First Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, USA

    William N. Rom M.D., M.P.H.

  2. Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    Kent E. Pinkerton Ph.D.

  3. Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Cell Biology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    Kent E. Pinkerton Ph.D.

  4. Center for Health & the Environment, John Muir Institute of the Environment, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    Kent E. Pinkerton Ph.D.

Authors
  1. William N. Rom M.D., M.P.H.
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  2. Kent E. Pinkerton Ph.D.
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Correspondence to William N. Rom M.D., M.P.H. or Kent E. Pinkerton Ph.D. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. John Muir Institute of the Environment University of California, Dept. of Pediatrics, School of Medicine Center for Health & the Environment, Davis, California, USA

    Kent E. Pinkerton

  2. and Environmental Medicine New York University School of Medicine, Div. of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine; Depts. of Medicine,, New York, New York, USA

    William N. Rom

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Rom, W.N., Pinkerton, K.E. (2014). Introduction: Consequences of Global Warming to the Public’s Health. In: Pinkerton, K., Rom, W. (eds) Global Climate Change and Public Health. Respiratory Medicine, vol 7. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8417-2_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8417-2_1

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