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Introduction
Climate variability remains one of the most severe public issues for all citizens across the globe. Profit and non-profit organizations are involved in their discussions and investigations to understand changes in temperature, weather conditions, and other events that humans are not able to control. Many observations and research activities have been recently conducted to prove the annual average temperature increase from 1.8 degrees in the 1900s to 2.5 degrees in the 2010s. A number of reasons could explain climate variability, and most of them are related to human activities, including the production of fossil fuels, the greenhouse effect, inappropriate land use, and deforestation. Although it is hard for ordinary people to see a specific outcome of their actions concerning the environment, certain consequences cannot be ignored. This report will pay attention to three areas water resources, food security, and human health. Climate change may disrupt weather patterns, water or food availability, and other events that people try to control. Thus, evaluating the effects of climate variability on water, food, and health will help identify the areas for improvement and offer solutions to current environmental challenges.
Climate Variability and Change
Peoples attitudes toward weather and climate are vague and ambiguous. On the one hand, multiple attempts are constantly made to predict the weather, protect populations, and make the necessary preparations to reduce the impact of natural disasters on human routine. For example, various greenhouse gas-induced model projections are developed to determine global surface warming issues. Societies underline their need for new forecast techniques and promote the education of engineers and meteorologists. It is not enough to comprehend the fundamental physics of greenhouse gases and examine the role of carbon dioxide or nitrous oxide. Climate variability and change touch upon different regions in all parts of the world. In America, such places as Alaska, Oklahoma, and some southwestern states are under threat of intense fire seasons. Scientists investigate these anomalies to identify new areas with critical weather changes and make people improve their behaviors and decision-making. Each region has its peculiarities, resources, and inhabitants, which predetermine the promotion of new climate models and affects social knowledge and contributions.
On the other hand, being aware of the potential harms of human behaviors is not enough to stop taking dangerous steps. The decisions and discoveries people make as evidence of their progress and analytical thinking demonstrate the irrationality of their existence in relation to climate change. Regarding historical examples, the Industrial Revolution provoked the creation of new engines and factories, which added serious threats to the atmosphere, like planet heating. People want to observe comfort and increase the quality of life by burning fossil fuels and inducing new problems. Researchers find out that temperature changes depend on past and recent experience, but as soon as a changing environment is normalized with time, no corrective measures are taken. In other words, when people see that they can deal with another natural disaster and solve all its adverse effects in a short period, they neglect the importance of further improvements and possible predictions. Instead of decreasing the number of destructive processes, new committees for analyzing climate change are found.
Aims of the Report
Climate crisis is not a new concept in modern education. Such terms as global warming and climate change emerge in many fields, including health care, engineering, business, and social science. There is a need for a solid background to support behavioral and organizational improvements in society. This report explores significant transformations in several fields, and one of the initial goals is to identify the difference between climate change and variability. Both conditions mean that there is a lack of some fixed patterns. However, change and variability are never the same in environmental and social studies, and a time-frame characteristic must be considered. In most cases, climate change is the term used to underline persistent or multidecadal deviations, while climate variability means occasional or interannual shifts. Climate change needs much time to be noticed and recognized as a threat or a problem to be discussed. Climate variability may be observed in weather events that make people learn their contributions to the environment and the existing climate system.
Role of Human Activities in Climate Variability
Climate change and variability are long-term and short-term, respectfully, alterations of temperature and precipitation. The circulation of the air and water, volcanic eruptions, and iceberg melting provoke natural changes that are dangerous for people. Despite the level of preparedness, many countries are not ready for climate change. The governments of the countries where wilderness areas prevail over industrial areas like Tanzania cannot deal with environmental shifts because the water flows significantly decrease in highlands and rivers dry up seasonally. In developed countries like the United States, some regions face serious social and health problems because of the connection between food supply, psychological and neurological development, and human behaviors. Despite the intention of people to create safe conditions and predict the growth of serious illnesses and hunger concerns, weather changes introduce their own rules and requirements under which it is necessary to live. There are many technological developments, buildings, and protective means used to control water, land, and even air. However, as soon as a natural disaster begins, its outcomes are devastating.
No one should neglect the twofold connection between human activities and climate change. People have to take certain steps depending on weather conditions. At the same time, the weather is determined by the efforts made by people. The only differences are the duration and severity of outcomes. The creation of power plants, the importance of transportation, extensive use of forests, industrial farming, and oil drilling are human activities that challenge the environment and release harmful gases. Compared to climate change that may be explained through the prism of human actions and negligent behaviors, a climate variability is a natural event that includes such phenomena as droughts, temperature patterns, and increased precipitations. These changes are short-term, but their outcomes vary, depending on the area of analysis. In this report, the examination of water resources, food supply, and health issues will be conducted to clarify if current environmental challenges can be solved.
Climate Variability and Water Resources Outcomes
Background Information
Climate variability affects water resources in different ways due to the impact on the quantity, duration, form, and intensity of precipitations. Today, water resources include various natural resources of surface water like rivers, lakes, and creeks, rain- or seawater, and frozen water, such as icebergs or glaciers. Regarding the role of water in human life, people feel the effect of climate variability through this natural resource in a short period. Some regions experience frequent flooding threats that destroy safe water reservoirs, contaminate water and challenge all sanitation requirements. The hydrological cycle is closely related to other natural conditions like temperature or wind. Such processes as evaporation, condensation, sublimation, transpiration, or infiltration promote the presence of water in all layers of the ecosystem and most human activities. People expect to get a reliable and clear supply of water to drink. In addition, participation in agricultural and industrial events also requires water in an extensive amount. As soon as climate change occurs, water demand increases and water supplies shrink. This connection is evident, and scientists have to continue their investigations to understand how to predict unnecessary losses.
Management of Water Resources
Droughts and floods are serious water-related events that create additional problems for humankind. Global temperature increases and contributes to climate and water cycle changes that predetermine when and where precipitation falls. As a result, water evaporates in larger than necessary amounts, promotes more intense atmospheric water vapor, and leads to more rains soon. These shifts explain unpredictable and dangerous floods and rains, and the land, including soil and vegetation, is not able to absorb all amounts of water. Snowing also provokes the enlargement of excessive water and dangerous flows with time. The remaining water is poorly managed, but its movement is hard to stop. Thus, runoffs could drain waterways, interfere with contamination processes, and transfer polluted water to lakes and ocean. No cleaning activities are performed in oceans or other water resources each time runoffs reach them because of large amounts of work. Algae blooms grow quickly and pollute coastal lines, challenging people to get fresh and clean water for their personal purposes.
Examples
There are many examples of how climate change creates unfavorable conditions and problems with water resources. This report will discuss five main areas: access to drinking water, poorly controlled water contamination, increased pathogens due to heat, economic issues, and drought vs. deluge challenges. One of the most evident effects of climate variability on water resources is the lack of access for humans. Currently, 785 million people all around the world face difficulties with accessing basic drinking-water services and, within the following five years, almost 4 billion people are expected to live in water-stressed areas. Water cycle patterns are hard to stop or change, making it more difficult to save enough drinking water for populations, especially vulnerable groups in developing countries.
The example of the Blue Mountains, Oregon, USA, shows that more than 75% of water rights depend on instream flows that contain drinking water from surface water or groundwater. In England, climate variability creates the inability for the government and involved agencies to meet water drinking standards because about 70% is defined as at-risk . As soon as people cannot drink safe water, they could face multiple health, social, economic, and personal problems. For instance, the consumption of non-drinking water might cause deadly and contagious diseases such as poliomyelitis, cholera, dysentery, and typhoid. Difficulties with access to drinking water are typical of the Third World countries where healthcare services are also poor and cannot provide medical help to all the patients with these diseases.
Bottled Water Consumption
Another important problem provoked by the lack of access to drinking water is the rise of bottled water consumption. First of all, multiple studies show that it is a great misconception to believe that bottled water is significantly safer and cleaner than piped water. What is more, the probability of bottled water being contaminated is also rather high. Secondly, the price of bottled water per liter is much higher than the price of piped water. Therefore, the households that purchase bottled water have to economize it and use such water exclusively for drinking, not for cooking and personal hygiene. The fact that people do not use safe water to prepare meals and bathe severely injurious their state of health. In addition to that, the increase of the use of bottled water leads to an increase in plastic consumption and, hence, exacerbates pollution of the environment. Water resource restrictions in terms of safe drinking become a severe effect because of climate change, and additional engineering solutions and recommendations are required.
Water Contamination
Contamination is another serious outcome of climate variability on water sources. Multiple downpours, droughts, and diversity in water levels alter the quality of recreational water. One of the reasons for water contamination is microbial growth that is provoked by global warming. Landslips caused by flooding and downpours lead to the penetration of chemicals contained in soil into water. The rise of sea level, in its turn, contributes to the infusion of salt into the drinking water supplies. Contamination occurs from different perspectives: if some people differentiate between the color of water, researchers address the presence of bacteria and viruses. Groundwater contamination puts not only humans but animals and plants at risk of being damaged. It is necessary to identify all contamination sources, upgrade poor infrastructure, and support vulnerable areas according to the existing standards. Fecal contamination remains a serious threat to water resources, and although climate variability does not directly cause this outcome, rains, droughts, and other events reveal this problem outside. Land movements and water flows bring new elements from the inside and contribute to fast contamination.
Conclusion
To conclude the part of the report dedicated to the relations between climate variability and water resources outcomes, it should be noted that the effectiveness of the ongoing attempts to tackle the situation is relatively low. Undoubtedly, ordinary people could control personal plastic consumption, and companies could be forced to dispose chemicals, oils, and other wastes properly. However, the critical hindrance lies in the fact that politicians in many countries do not treat the provision of drinking water as a public service that should be provided and controlled by the government. Furthermore, governments in under-developed countries are too poor to allocate enough resources to mitigate the lack of access to water and its contamination.
Climate Variability and Food Security
The concept of food security rests on four pillars: availability, access, consumption, and stability. Food availability means that a country possesses enough food of good quality to feed its population. Food access denotes that an individual has such an income that he or she could purchase food of good quality. The factor of utilization is combined with such components as normal calories intake, safe water, and decent sanitary conditions. Finally, food stability indicates that a person in a household has access to food resources all the time, without exception.
Statistics and Predictions
Food security could be regarded as a privilege and exception from the general rule in the modern world. According to the recent report of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, in 2020, approximately 765 million people in the world will suffer from hunger. The ongoing pandemic of COVID-19 to a large extent contributed to this vast number of chronically hungry people. More precisely, from 2015 to 2020, the level of world hunger was stable, but during the first year of the pandemic, the prevalence of undernourishment increased by 1.5 percent. More than 20 percent of the African population and 9 percent of people in Asia and Latin America live in food insecurity conditions. This problem could be explained by numerous reasons, including economic and political instability, natural disasters, the absence of fertile soil, and climate change.
Climate change affects all four aforementioned components of food security. Weather-related disasters, including flooding, wildfire, droughts, and hurricanes, destroy arable lands and pastures and causes soil erosion. The increased emission of CO2 reduces the nutritional value of vegetables, fruits, and grains. Global warming combined with the previously mentioned increase in CO2 concentration is cited as a primary factor of drastic decline in the production of wheat and maize worldwide. More precisely, from the 1990-s to the 2010-s, the production of these crops dropped by 5 percent. During the same period, the scale of areas where vegetables and fruits are growing has declined by 26 percent and 35 percent, respectively. In some countries, such as Indonesia, climate change causes the deterioration of pastures. This, in turn, reduces grazing areas and contributes to the unwillingness of farmers to rear cattle because this process has become more expensive. Such a decline in the amount of produced food, including grains, vegetables, and meat, contributes to the increase in the number of people who suffer from chronic hunger and malnutrition all around the globe.
Food Insecurity and Global Warming
Particular attention should be dedicated to the fact that climate change expressed with the continuous increase in Earths temperature leads to droughts. The lack of rainfalls exacerbates food insecurity in the regions dependent on rainfed agriculture. This problem is most apparent in the African area, commonly known for a large proportion of the starving population. In Africa, 95 percent of food is produced by rainfed agriculture. This way, the global tendency towards the reduction of rainfalls combined with drastic problems with access to uncontaminated water severely affects starvation on the African continent.
The problem of food insecurity caused by rising temperature is closely related to the previously mentioned issue of the lack of access to clean water. Apart from that, climate change threatens food security because drought and wildfires destroy forests and forestry, livestock, crops, grazing lands, and even fisheries and aquaculture. For example, according to the data provided by the National Centers for Environmental Information, only in the United States, in September 2021, 1,019,822 acres of land were burned. However, in comparison with the situation in Africa, wildfires in the USA are not that severe: NASA calculated that 70 percent of all wildfires in the world occur in Africa. The recent report of the Food and Agriculture Organization presents that the biggest crop and livestock production loss occur because of drought and wildfires and constitute 35 percent in total. Dynamic climate change contributes to the increased frequency of wildfires and expansion of their scale. The threats that climate variability poses to food security are not limited by the destruction of agriculture by drought, flooding, and wildfires.
Pests and Pathogens
Another manifestation of climate change is the invasions of pests and the spread of various diseases that destroy crops and pastures, endanger the life of cattle, and, hence, threaten food security. The most adverse cases are commonly witnessed in Southwest Asia, the Greater Horn of Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula. What is more, the most dangerous pests, including cassava diseases, armyworms, wheat rusts, fruit flies, and locusts, inhabit not some particular country or area but move around the world. This way, the 2018 pandemic of swine fever that started in Africa eventually caused a more than 20 percent decrease in pork production in China. There are multiple factors that contribute to the increased spreading of pests and pathogens.
Conclusion
Undoubtedly, the primary reason for such a rapid and global spread of fatal diseases is induced by the high intensity of international trade. Still, the role of climate change in the appearance and spread of pests and diseases should not be underestimated. Contrariwise, droughts and flooding provoked by climate variability are regarded as primary catalysts of diseases spreading. More precisely, wet tropical regions have become even wetter in recent years due to the increased frequency of flooding provoked by climate change. The conditions of greater humidity created by flooding are directly related to the more active development of water-borne pathogens and parasites, such as, for example, salmonella and cryptosporidium, respectively. From the analysis presented above, it follows that climate variability requires immediate, decisive measures from the international society and individual governments to prevent millions of people from starvation.
Climate Variability and Human Health
Climate change affects both environmental and social aspects of human health. The primary threat to the physical well-being of people lies in the fact increase in temperature and humidity creates favorable conditions for active reproduction and propagation of pathogenic microorganisms. In other words, global warming and the rise of sea levels might be the indirect cause of kidney and liver damage, asthma, diarrhea, and nervous system disorders. As it has been mentioned in the preceding part of the report, the increase of temperature provoked by the excessive CO2 emission causes drought in some regions and heavy waterfalls and flooding in other ones.
Water Pollution
Some pathogens are drought resistant; however, wetness is immensely favorable for numerous bacteria and parasites. People get intoxicated by these pathogenic microorganisms by drinking contaminated water and eating contaminated fish and marine products. At this point, it is necessary to notice that climate change exclusively cannot be accused of spoiling water. People commonly become victims of technological development, growth of production, and the following improper utilization of chemicals and other wastes. One of the most popular examples of water contamination by human activities is the mercury water pollution in the Japanese town of Minamata. Still, this problem of improper waste utilization has little to do with the health threats posed by climate change. To return to the topic of climate change, the rise of the sea surfaces temperature manifests itself in the increased number and severity of hurricanes, storms, and cyclones. The result of these adverse natural phenomena is contamination sources of drinking and harvesting water and water bodies utilized for recreation and the damage of infrastructure for purification and distribution of water. Climate variability poses a significant danger to human health through water contamination and air pollution.
Air Pollution
Relations between climate change and air pollution could be described as bilateral. On one side, pollution of air with carbon dioxide contributes to global warming and climate disruption. High emissions of CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels and methane emissions from raising livestock and production of fossil fuels cause the greenhouse effect by preventing Earths heat from going back to the atmosphere. As it has been stated in the section above, a high level of carbon dioxide decreases the nutritional value of crops and vegetables. From this, it could be inferred that climate change caused by air pollution leads to malnutrition and, hence, destroys the health of people.
On another side, climate change plays a significant role in air pollution. The higher temperature of the Earth caused by air pollution increases the amount of ozone formed in the atmosphere and held at the near-surface level. Ozone is the secondary pollutant, and its overdosage could provoke pneumonia, bronchitis, asthma attacks, allergic rhinitis, to name but a few adverse effects on the respiratory system. Ozone also negatively affects the growth of plants and fosters their wilting. This way, pollution of air with ozone contributes not only to the increased probability of pulmonary diseases but also to food insecurity and consequential malnutrition.
Ozone Layer Depletion
In the context of climate change, one of the most topical issues is the depletion of the ozone layer in the atmosphere. The critical function of the ozone layer is the absorption of ultraviolet radiation emitted by the sun. In spite of the fact that nowadays, governments worldwide cooperate with each other and the scientific sector to prevent the worsening of the ozone layers condition, the existing holes in it have a devastating impact on the health of people. Excessive exposure to ultraviolet radiation could cause skin cancer, cataracts, and impaired vision. Undoubtedly, ultraviolet radiation and ozone have positive effects on human health as well. Still, the critical point is that it is becoming harder not to exceed acceptable consumption figures due to environmental degradation and climate change.
Allergens
Climate variability poses a special hazard for people who have asthma or severe allergic reactions to pollen. The warmer temperature of the environment prolongs the duration of warm seasons and makes flowers, trees, and grass bloom earlier than expected. Therefore, the concentration of such allergen as pollen increases. People who have no breathing issues or allergic diseases do not even notice the difference, but the number of such people is reducing rapidly. The fact the pollen season of ragweed, cypress, and olive has increased by almost three weeks has been witnessed by scientists and significantly decreased the highly allergic individuals quality of life. What is more, the experts have calculated that during the following 20-40 years, the number of people who are sensitive to ragweed will increase from 30 to 70 million. The same unfavorable forecast is valid for other types of allergens. This increase is explained by the fact that by 2050, the concentration of ragweed pollen in the air will become raise fourfold. Thus, it is still necessary to tackle global warming because it increases the pressure on every countrys healthcare system and decreases the health of people.
In extremely severe cases, allergies might be fatal; however, the majority of people get off with difficulty breathing, runny nose, swelling, sneezing, and itching. In spite of this fact, some consequences of climate change could lead to lethal outcomes. During the recent several decades, the average air temperature in summer in Europe, the Americas, and Asia shows a sharp increase. More specifically, the Earths average temperature in July of this year is the highest one during the past 142 years. Although premature heatrelated deaths are preventable, people who are diagnosed with blood pressure abnormalities and cardiovascular diseases should be immensely cautious because a long stay in the heat might result in a heat stroke and heart attack.
Water Contamination
Another essential factor related to climate change that puts human health in danger is water contamination. This problem has already been discussed in detail in the section on climate variability and water resource outcomes. To briefly summarize this problem, global warming combined with the increased frequency of droughts, flooding, downpours, and storms create an environment favorable for the pathogens reproduction. This problem is most apparent in the least developed countries where national governments do not allocate enough resources to control the quality of drinking and recreational water.
Mental Health
Mental well-being is an integral element of human health and could be easily influenced by the external environment. It is curious to notice that extreme weather conditions and adverse natural disasters can provoke stress, symptoms of depression, aggression, and even substance and drug abuse. Furthermore, numerous studies have proven that extreme heat aggravates the clinical current of mentally ill people and increases the likelihood of heat-related death of such patients. People who take antipsychotics and tricyclic antidepressants are at the highest risk because these types of medications alter the bodys ability to regulate its temperature and, thus, could easily cause overheating.
Another impact on mental health stems from the fact that nowadays, the issue of climate change has become immensely topical. Experts on TV, radio, newspapers, and social media regularly discuss the degradation of the environment and vividly portray what can happen if humanity does not solve this problem in the nearest future. The regular consumption of unfortunate prognosis makes life more stressful and stress, in its turn, is the reason for numerous health issues, including mental health and cardiovascular problems, obesity, hormonal failures, and insomnia. Some scholars even introduce the concepts of ecological grief, ecoguilt, and ecoanxiety to describe the mental disorders related to climatic events. Besides, people might get incredibly worried by the destruction of their shelters and harvests by natural disasters that are becoming more common due to climate change.
Insecure Shelters
The last but not the least threat to the social aspect of human health arises from food insecurity and the absence of secure shelter. The topic of food security has already been discussed above. The critical inference from the aforementioned piece of text is that climate change leads to adverse weather conditions and natural disasters that destroy livestock and crops. This way, people have less food to eat and spend more money on purchasing the most basic products such as meat, poultry, fish, milk, grains, and vegetables. Moreover, this food could be contaminated with viruses, bacteria or annihilated by the invasion pests.
Talking about the safety of shelters, the warming of seawater and rising sea levels provoke floods, cyclones, and tsunamis that disrupt the properties of numerous people. Only in the US, approximately 100 people per year die because of floods. Considering that about 1.5 billion people are exposed to the risk of flooding, the number of possible deaths is also impressively large [45]. Hereby, climate change deprives a tremendous proportion of people of secure shelters and causes a vast number of flood-related deaths on an annual basis.
Conclusion
To summarize the section on climate variability and human health, it is necessary to notice that the most vulnerable groups of people are older adults, people with mental illness, pregnant women, and children. Even though these people could easily control the duration of sun exposure, it is troublesome to evaluate the quality of food and water, let alone the security of their homes. In addition, people who work outdoors, have low or unstable income, or live in Third World countries are also at high risk of suffering from a wide range of climate variabilitys consequences. For the reasons stated above, international society, scientists, and ordinary people should work hard on the reduction of greenhouse gases emissions. Environmentally friendly behavior is the way to reduce air pollution, water contamination, food insecurity, and overall global warming.
Solutions to Adverse Effects of Climate Change
Statistical data and scientific findings prove that climate variability strongly affects the quality and accessible amount of safe drinking water and food and the physical and mental well-being of people. Such manifestation of climate change as global warming is irreversible, and there are no ways to prevent its long-term consequences. Nonetheless, it is possible to mitigate some of the costs of the previously described environmental changes. The current part of the essay analyzes what could be done to fix the problems with the quality and amount of water, food security, and diseases caused by climate variability.
Water Resources
Problems with water are caused by droughts and flooding that result from climate change and include the lack of access of the local population to water and the pollution and contamination of drinking and farming water. Even though there are ways on how to deal with droughts, flooding, and storms, the report will focus on how to reduce the severity of outcomes on people. One of the most apparent but still immensely effective solutions on how to prevent scarcity of water is to economize it. However, the problem with this suggestion is that it could only be applied by the dwellers of developed and developing nations because people in the underdeveloped regions of the world cannot economize the resource that they do not even consume on a regular basis. Therefore, it is highly recommended for such countries to int
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