Climate Change Impacts on Human Health

Climate change poses major challenges to human society and to Earth systems, influencing the functioning of many ecosystems and thereby affecting human health. Many climate change/variability- and extreme weather-associated events, such as sea level rise, hurricanes, and storm surge, as well as other weather extremes, including excessive precipitation and heatwaves, have direct and/or indirect impacts on human health. These impacts include death/injury, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, environmentally-mediated infectious diseases, and mental health, among others. Due to its unique geography, Florida is particularly vulnerable to these environmental impacts, which have important health implications for the state’s more than 20 million residents. In this chapter, we review the health impacts of climate change and associated weather events, with an emphasis on those relevant to Florida, and environmental hazards, including hurricanes and storms, lightning, sea level rise, excessive precipitation, extreme heat, and drought. There is clear evidence for significant climate-sensitive hazards and human health impacts in the state, despite uncertainties associated with the assessment of some effects. To address health impacts and challenges, policies focused on mitigation and adaptation strategies, health surveillance, and research that could close knowledge gaps on human exposures to the climate-sensitive hazards and health impacts are needed.