Scientists have long predicted that global climate change could fuel an increase in the frequency and severity of natural disasters including hurricanes, heatwaves and cold snaps, droughts and floods and wildfires.
Scientists have long predicted that global climate change could fuel an increase in the frequency and severity of natural disasters including hurricanes, heatwaves and cold snaps, droughts and floods and wildfires. In a paper published in the Journal of Climate Change and Health, members of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) Fellowship in Disaster Medicine estimated that climate change-related natural disasters have increased since 1980 and have already cost the United States more than $2 trillion in recovery costs. Their analysis also suggests that as atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and the global temperature continue to rise, the frequency and severity of disasters will increase, with recovery costs potentially rising exponentially.
“The United States spends a staggering amount on costs secondary to natural disasters,” said senior author Gregory Ciottone, MD, director of the Disaster Medicine Fellowship at BIDMC. “Carbon dioxide levels and temperatures have increased over the past four decades and are strongly positively correlated with the number and cost of billion-dollar disasters, suggesting the annual number of events will continue to increase along with their economic burden. Measures are needed to mitigate those costs.”
Read more at: Beth Isreal Deaconess Medical Center
Professor Deron Burkepile observes coral in the process of bleaching in the reefs around Moorea. (Photo Credit: Jeff Liang)
