{"id":11989,"date":"2021-08-01T12:59:03","date_gmt":"2021-08-01T02:59:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/herheart.org\/?p=11989"},"modified":"2021-08-01T12:59:03","modified_gmt":"2021-08-01T02:59:03","slug":"3-major-ways-fighting-climate-change-will-transform-our-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/area54.thedct.net\/herheart\/3-major-ways-fighting-climate-change-will-transform-our-health\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Major Ways Fighting Climate Change Will Transform Our Health"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a lot of buzz about urgent steps environmental experts are advocating to rescue the planet for future generations. Perhaps less talked about is how these initiatives will affect human health\u00a0right now<\/em>\u00a0and in the coming years. Here\u2019s what three much-discussed moves designed to create a greener future mean for your well-being and that of your family.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Switching to electric vehicles<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The cars, trucks, buses, ships, trains, and planes we use to get from Point A to Point B generate the\u00a0most greenhouse gas emissions<\/a>\u00a0in the U.S. Significant changes in this area will help drive huge improvements in the quality of our atmosphere.<\/p>\n

Why it\u2019s good for the environment:<\/strong>\u00a0The\u00a0nitrogen dioxide (NO2<\/sub>)<\/a>\u00a0that flows from the tailpipes of our vehicles reacts with other chemicals in the air to form particulate matter and ozone, a powerful heat-trapping gas. Fortunately, cars, trucks, and buses that are electric don\u2019t release NO2<\/sub>, so putting more of them on the road and using far fewer gas guzzlers will\u00a0lower ground-level ozone<\/a>\u00a0over time. Less ozone in the atmosphere may result in a sky so clear you can see for miles.<\/p>\n

How it\u2019s good for your health:<\/strong>\u00a0Breathing air without all that NO2<\/sub>\u00a0may mean less\u00a0coughing<\/a>, wheezing, breathing trouble,\u00a0respiratory infections<\/a>, and\u00a0asthma<\/a>, according to the\u00a0Environmental Protection Agency<\/a>. If even a quarter of a metro area\u2019s vehicles were converted to electric, 30 to 50 premature deaths a year would be prevented there, Canadian researchers calculate.<\/p>\n

Retiring old buses, diesel trucks, and inefficient motorcycles is especially beneficial for reducing NO2<\/sub>\u00a0and diesel-related particulate matter, says\u00a0John Balbus, M.D<\/a>., a senior adviser for public health at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Switching to plug-in cars\u2014or, better yet, biking and\u00a0walking<\/a>\u00a0when we can\u2014will also help a lot.<\/p>\n

Expanding wind and solar power<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Today,\u00a0most energy in the U.S.<\/a>\u00a0comes from burning fossil fuels, mainly coal and natural gas; the former is known as a \u201cdirty fuel\u201d because of its high carbon content and the fact that burning it to make power\u00a0belches toxins into the air<\/a>. Fortunately, there are many\u00a0renewable energy alternatives<\/a>, including wind, solar, hydropower, and biomass.<\/p>\n

Why it\u2019s good for the environment:<\/strong>\u00a0Burning coal and natural gas creates carbon
\ndioxide (CO2<\/sub>) and methane, heat-trapping gases that are among the biggest culprits in raising temperatures around the globe. One\u00a0\u00a0is that it lingers in the atmosphere for\u00a0hundreds of years<\/a>, and in some cases for more than a thousand. Extracting gas through\u00a0fracking<\/a>\u00a0(blasting very hot water, sand, and chemicals into subterranean rock to force oil or gas to the surface) also releases methane. Cleaner renewable energies such as wind and solar make up just 18% of U.S. energy, but that\u2019s up from less than 1% 20 years ago, and these sources are projected to hit 38% by 2050.<\/p>\n

How it\u2019s good for your health:<\/strong>\u00a0When burning gas and especially coal, conventional power plants spew particulate matter\u2014a.k.a. soot\u2014into the air. These tiny toxins easily enter our lungs and bloodstreams as we breathe, resulting in\u00a0lung cancer<\/a>,\u00a0stroke<\/a>,\u00a0cognitive decline<\/a>, and the premature deaths of more than a hundred thousand Americans a year, says Dr. Balbus. Researchers from Johns Hopkins\u00a0found<\/a>\u00a0that Pennsylvania residents with the highest exposure to fracking were twice as likely as others to experience\u00a0migraines<\/a>, chronic sinus symptoms, and\u00a0fatigue<\/a>. Growing evidence suggests that fracking poses other serious health risks too. Renewable energy doesn\u2019t create these issues.<\/p>\n

Adopting regenerative agriculture<\/strong><\/h3>\n

After centuries of pollution, there is a lot of carbon in the atmosphere, and it needs to be removed to help slow rising temperatures. Using more natural farming practices, such as an approach known as regenerative agriculture, is a great way to safely store excess carbon in the ground.<\/p>\n

Why it\u2019s good for the environment:<\/strong>\u00a0High-quality (\u201cliving\u201d) soil teems with colonies of fungi, bacteria, nematodes, and other tiny organisms. All these critters naturally remove carbon from the air and store it underground, but generations of conventional tillage and chemical-heavy farming have decimated their numbers.<\/p>\n

Growing food organically isn\u2019t enough, says\u00a0Tim LaSalle, Ph.D<\/a>., cofounder of the Center for Regenerative Agriculture and Resilient Systems at California State University, Chico, because without regenerative practices, organic soil becomes depleted as well. That\u2019s why regenerative farmers employ techniques like planting extra soil-protecting crops (called cover crops); avoiding pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides; introducing an array of beneficial microbes to the ground; and not tilling the land.<\/p>\n

How it\u2019s good for your health:<\/strong>\u00a0When farmers adopt the above practices, fewer pesticides and other toxic chemicals make their way from fields into\u00a0drinking water<\/a>. Plus, foods grown in healthier soil are probably better for us, LaSalle says, though more research is needed. Robust plant roots can stretch more than 50 times as far as those grown via conventional agriculture, he says, and that lets them discover and soak in additional trace minerals and other nutrients our bodies absorb when we eat them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Originally posted on the US Prevention website. For the original article, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a lot of buzz about urgent steps environmental experts are advocating to rescue the planet for future generations. Perhaps less talked about is how these initiatives will affect human health\u00a0right now\u00a0and in the coming years. Here\u2019s what three much-discussed moves designed to create a greener future mean for your well-being and that of your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11990,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","pmpro-has-access","grve-entry-item","grve-blog-item"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n3 Major Ways Fighting Climate Change Will Transform Our Health | Her Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/area54.thedct.net\/herheart\/3-major-ways-fighting-climate-change-will-transform-our-health\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"3 Major Ways Fighting Climate Change Will Transform Our Health | Her Heart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There\u2019s a lot of buzz about urgent steps environmental experts are advocating to rescue the planet for future generations. 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