The heat is killing Americans. Trump, Republicans don’t seem to care
Dr. Thomas K. Lew
A healthy young man fell in the field, unable to get up. He ended up in my hospital emergency room with a temperature of 105 degrees. He didn’t have a rare infection or hidden cancer but something very insidious – a condition that affects us all : moderate temperature.
This agricultural worker suffered from deadly heat.
The world has also reached the peak of the “hottest day on record.” Whether we believe it or not, global warming is real and the consequences for human life are significant and deadly.
We must keep climate issues front of mind as the November election approaches.
Extreme heat, climate change threatens the lives of Americans
We’re on track for more than a year of warm monthly temperatures, and the National Weather Service is advising a “locally severe heat hazard” across the country.
This translates into direct effects on a person’s life. My patient suffered from severe heatstroke, as the human body can withstand being in oppressive heat for a long time before muscles are damaged and vital organs begin to shut down.
‘This can’t be true’:He left his daughter alone in a hot car for hours. He died.
Many Americans suffer from these heat-related illnesses. Last year, at least 2,300 people died from extreme heat, more than any other year on record.
The numbers are yet to come in this year nationwide, but many nations are already counting the dead. Aside from the exact number of people, one study estimates that extreme heat is responsible for more than 235,000 emergency room visits and $1 billion in health care costs each summer.
And it’s not just high thermometer readings that are causing illness caused by climate change – more wildfires are destroying communities, and they’re currently burning 5,000 acres per hour in my home state of California. Wildfires also lead to poor air quality, which can cause dangerous flare-ups of asthma, bronchitis and emphysema.
I’ve seen hospital rooms full of asthmatics, unable to get enough air to finish a full sentence, after being exposed to wildfire smoke.
On the other side of the country, climate change is also fueling extreme weather events such as hurricanes. Warmer ocean temperatures encourage the development of strong, damaging hurricanes and flooding along our Atlantic coast.
Displaced and vulnerable Americans are more vulnerable to diseases caused by floods and landslides, and the psychological toll is immeasurable.
Trump, Vance and the Republicans don’t care about climate change
The damage of climate change can seem overwhelming and insurmountable. Reusing and recycling bottles and cans will go a long way.
Together, however, we can use the power of our votes to make real and long-term change in government policy.
Cities are getting hotter:Our houses and asphalt made the heat worse. Don’t just complain about it. Stop it.
One side of politics is ready to deal with climate change and its effects on our lives. The other side has believed that climate change is a man-made problem that needs to be solved. And it is not a MAGA republic.
According to the Center for American Progress, at least 123 members of Congress, all members of the GOP, have expressed their opposition to man-made climate change, contradicting the vast majority of scientists who have they reject climate change. indeed study the Earth’s climate.
When he was president, Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris climate accord and called global warming a hoax. And him stated that “the theory of global warming made by the Chinese and to make US manufacturing uncompetitive. ”
As a man of science (and a proud Chinese American), I say: No sir, climate change is real, and it’s killing Americans.
Republicans are already working hard to try to lower pollution standards and defund the Environmental Protection Agency.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration has passed legislation aimed at increasing renewable energy efforts and is working to protect Americans on an individual basis by recommending water shut offs during extreme heat. Laws like this would have saved my patient’s life, but some Republicans called it “idiotic.”
Only one political side is working to protect Americans from the deadly effects of climate change. This is our chance to make sure our voices are heard. Vote this November for politicians who believe global warming is man-made and want to do something about it. Vote like your life depends on it. Vote like the lives of our future generations depend on it – because they do.
Dr. Thomas K. Lew is an assistant clinical professor of Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine and attending physician at Stanford Health Care Tri-Valley Hospital. All opinions expressed are his own. Follow him on X: @ThomasLewMD
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