減排：省醫療支出 更能救人！
氣候變遷是一項美國必須準備以對的嚴重健康危害，根據美國各地政府及大學學院的科學家們表示。 他們8日提出忠告，氣候模擬顯示全球暖化將會加速空氣污染並且引發更多的熱浪、洪水，以及旱災，這些事件的後果都會威脅人類的健康。
「氣候變遷是典型的大眾健康問題。」美國聯邦疾病管制局「環境危害及健康效應」部門主任麥吉辛(Michael McGeehin)說道。
「熱浪是危及大眾健康的災害，不但致命，並且為害的是社會中最脆弱的族群。」麥吉警告，「氣候變遷將會提高熱浪的頻率及強度，這是我們必須準備好面對的。」
氣候變遷的模擬顯示近來幾周襲擊美國某些地區的這種熱浪將會更頻繁，間隔將會更短，並且持續更久。美國國家海洋及大氣管理局國家氣候資料中心的氣候學家伊斯特林(David Easterling)表示。
根據普度大學地球及大氣科學教授賀柏(Mtthew Huber)指出，氣候變遷甚至可能使得地球的某些區域成為人無法居住的地區。賀柏的研究發現顯示，如果因使用石化燃料產生的污染排放持續有增無減，極高的溫度及濕度將使得地球上眾多區域變得不適於人類生存。
長期看來，也許200或300年後，地球可能會面臨平均上升溫度達到華氏10至15度(約6至8攝氏度)的情況。 在這樣的情形下，地球上大部分的區域，包括澳洲，許多地中海國家，以及部分的非洲、巴西、中國、印度和美國，熱浪來襲時人們將無法在在戶外存活超過數小時。
威斯康辛大學全球環境健康主任裴茲(Jonathan Patz)說道，當氣候變遷是一個健康威脅時，阻擋氣候變遷的發生就是一個重要的公共健康機會。他指出，世界衛生組織報告顯示，全球每年約有100萬人因空氣污染提前死亡。他說全球溫室氣體排放減量也將會降低某些污染物的排放，特別是地表的臭氧。
裴茲說，「如果我們能減低空氣污染，我們可以拯救生命。」Patz最新的研究發現，減少20%的短程乘車次數及哩程，將可以拯救數百條人命，減少成千上萬的住院案例，並且單單是在美國中西部，就可以省下數十億美元的醫療費用。如果駕駛不開車，選擇步行或騎腳踏車，Patz補充，「我們說不定能省下兩倍的醫療費用。」
氣候學家艾克烏茲(Brenda Ekwurzel)指出，解決氣候變遷的問題並不是只限於拯救北極熊還有一些遙不可及的的生物與棲息地，她表示，「有越來越多的研究顯示，與氣候變遷有關的醫療衝擊與醫療費用，跟我們直接有關。」
Climate change is a serious health hazard that the United States must prepare for, according to government and university scientists from across the country.
They advised Thursday that climate models show that global warming will increase air pollution and trigger more heat waves, floods and droughts, all of which will threaten human health.
"Climate change is a quintessential public health problem," said Michael McGeehin, director of the Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an agency of the federal government.
"Heat waves are a public health disaster. They kill, and they kill the most vulnerable members of our society," McGeehin warned. "The fact that climate change is going to increase the number and intensity of heat waves is something we need to prepare for."
Climate change models show that the kind of heat waves some parts of the country have been suffering through in recent weeks will occur more often and at closer intervals, and last longer, said David Easterling, a climatologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center.
Climate change could even make regions of the Earth uninhabitable, according to Matthew Huber, professor of earth and atmospheric sciences at Purdue University.
Huber's findings show that if emissions from burning fossil fuels continue unabated, extremely high temperature and humidity levels could make much of the world essentially uninhabitable for human beings.
Over the long term, perhaps 200 or 300 years, the planet could experience an increase of average global temperatures of 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit.
Under that scenario, much of the world, including Australia, many Mediterranean countries, and parts of Africa, Brazil, China, India and the United States, would be so hot and humid that people would not be able to survive outside during heatwaves for more than a few hours.
Jonathan Patz, director of global environmental health at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, said that while climate change is a health threat, tackling it is a major public health opportunity.
He pointed out that the World Health Organization reports about one million people annually die prematurely from air pollution. He says that cutting global warming emissions also would reduce certain kinds of pollution, especially ground-level ozone.
"If we can reduce air pollution," Patz said, "we can save lives."
Patz's latest research found that cutting down on the number short car trips and reducing the number of miles driven by about 20 percent would save hundreds of lives, avoid hundreds of thousands of hospital admissions, and save billions of dollars in healthcare costs in the Midwest alone.
If drivers got out of their cars and either walked or rode a bicycle, Patz added, "we could probably double those health care cost savings."
Climate scientist Brenda Ekwurzel noted that addressing climate change is not all about saving polar bears and other faraway creatures and habitats.
"More and more, studies demonstrate that the health care impact and health care costs related to climate change," she said, "are directly related to us."
全文及圖片詳見：ENS報導
