How Climate Change Increases the Risk of Infectious Diseases, Part 2 of 2

On today’s program, we’ll learn about other ways global warming increases the risk of infectious diseases. First, let’s look at how climate change is increasing vector-borne diseases; that is, diseases carried by infected insects and transmitted into the blood of humans. A 2008 study published in the journal Nature stated that almost one-third of the emerging infectious diseases over the past ten years were vector-borne. The two most common vector insects are mosquitoes and ticks. Scientists report that climate change can deplete the immune system, making it easier for people to contract transmissible diseases.

Another risk to global health is the massive increase in climate change refugees. Widespread flooding, droughts, food and water scarcity, and rising sea levels have forced millions of people to leave their homes.

Another risk to global health is the massive increase in climate change refugees. Many of these people are forced to live in refugee camps where improper housing, crowded living conditions, poor sanitation, limited food and water supplies, and mental stress all contribute to the risk and spread of infectious diseases.

Scientists also report that widespread flooding, induced by global warming, increases the risk of infectious diseases. Flooding increases the risk of disease in several ways. Floodwaters frequently contain raw sewage. Eating or drinking anything contaminated by this water can cause many diseases.

Climate change poses yet another dangerous threat to human health: the melting of the permafrost, or permanently frozen land, especially in the Arctic. The permafrost has preserved the corpses of countless humans and animal-people for tens of thousands of years. However, as temperatures rise and the permafrost melts, these remains are exposed, and viruses and bacteria from the past can be released into the atmosphere. And this is not the only danger from melting permafrost. Another report, published in the September 2021 issue of the journal Nature Climate Change, warns that melting permafrost could also release radioactive nuclear waste and other toxic chemicals dumped in the Arctic, creating a global health hazard. And finally, rising temperatures enable disease-causing fungi to spread to new geographical areas.

Our Most Courageous Supreme Master Ching Hai (vegan) frequently warns about the imminent dangers of global warming and emerging diseases and pandemics. She explains that the only way to stop these disasters is through a global shift to the compassionate vegan lifestyle. “If world vegan, then this COVID-19 will disappear, just like it never has been. Then, if the whole world will go vegan tomorrow, then lo and behold, pandemic gone at once.”