New Study Blames Climate Change For 37% Of Global Heat Deaths
Scientists say even more people die from other extreme weather amplified by global warming such as storms, flooding and drought.
Seth Borenstein
More than one-third of the world’s heat deaths each year are due directly to global warming, according to the latest study to calculate the human cost of climate change.
But scientists say that’s only a sliver of climate’s overall toll even more people die from other extreme weather amplified by global warming such as storms, flooding and drought and the heat death numbers will grow exponentially with rising temperatures.
Boilermaker Lloyd Hutchinson watches workers construct an exhaust tower at the natural-gas-fired electric plant in Dresden, Ohio.
Burning natural gas and wood instead of coal was supposed to be a bridge to a safer future, where heat and electricity came from sources that didnât generate as much pollution.
But new research suggests the alternative fuels are less of a bridge and more of a staircase.Â
A new Harvard University study found that, in at least 19 states plus Washington, D.C., burning gas now kills more people than coal because of exposure to a deadly type of fine particulate matter known as PM2.5 that lingers in the air and lodges in lung tissue.