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How Climate Change has Affected the Socioeconomic Development and

Human Health

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How Climate Change has Affected the Socioeconomic Development and

Human Health

Introduction

Climate change can be of great effect on human life whenever some conditions are not

observed. That is why every person’s responsibility is to make sure that whatever they do is

geared towards conserving the environments, which will help minimize climatic change

instances. The effects of climatic change are that it causes a rise in infectious diseases and global

warming issues, which have a great negative impact on human life. However, some solutions

have been put in place to help reduce the instances of climatic change.

How industrial activities affect climate change

Although industrialization has brought improved living standards, it has negative impacts

on our environment and living standards. Industrialization has brought challenges associated

with increases in temperature, lifestyle changes, philosophies, and extreme weather conditions.

With modern industrialization involving technological innovations, which has brought about

increased food production, more efficient means of transportation and communication, among

other positive advancements, the people have been introduced to a different attitude in how they

perceive nature.

Industrialization is a human activity; human activities have led to increased greenhouse

gases and pollutants in the atmosphere. One of the industrialization processes in mining produces

several gases that cause climate change (Aldieri & Vinci, 2020). For instance, during coal

mining, methane gas is released in gas, and natural oil production and the methane gas is

emitted. The decomposition of organic and solid waste in landfills also contributes to harmful

gas emitting. The effect of methane gas is twenty times more disastrous than carbon dioxide.
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During industrial activities, especially processes that involve the combustion of solid waste,

nitrous oxide is emitted. The Industrial melting of polymers and polymer-based materials emits

halocarbons, which include hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), and

perfluorocarbons (PFCs), which are powerful greenhouse gases. Other industrial processes, such

as waste management systems, solvent use, cement production, and refrigeration, also contribute

to greenhouse gases (Ojeaga & Posu, 2017). These greenhouse gases cause global warming since

they destroy the Ozone layer; this causes the atmosphere to trap heat that radiates from Earth

towards space, causing warming. The greenhouse gases block heat from escaping from the

atmosphere; the warmer conditions lead to more evaporation and precipitation depending on the

areas; some areas may become wetter or drier than others.

Additionally, if the greenhouse effect is more significant, the sea level increases due to

expansion; this is caused by the melting of glaciers and ice sheets. These changes will cause

extreme climates such as droughts, extreme rainfall, or higher temperatures. The increase in

temperatures causes an increase in tsunamis, typhoons, hurricanes, floods, and other natural

disasters due to the ocean's swelling up, which causes surges to drive onshore by high winds

massively destructive.

According to Ojeaga & Posu (2017), industrialization has caused an increase in the rate

of climate alteration by the change of social practices. Population growth accompanies

industrialization; the need for settlement has caused deforestation, burning fossil fuel increases in

carbon dioxide emissions, and other greenhouse gases. Additionally, the change in lifestyles

brought about by industrial activities brings about gaps in classes of people in society. An

increase in mechanization in the United Kingdom, for example, led to the working class,

spending more money on smoking tobacco, which is both harmful to health and the environment.
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Therefore, industrial activities increase industrialization, which causes changes in human

behavior and social transformations that increase environmental pollution, negatively impacting

the environment (Opoku & Boachie, 2020). Developed countries cannot control the exploitation

of natural resources and reduce the level of pollution. Change in people’s philosophies,

especially on environmental conservation, makes them less concerned about the proper disposal

of industrial waste.

Climate change, Irregular Weather Patterns, and the Food Chain

Climate change, which brings about irregular weather patterns, affects agricultural

production; this, in turn, affects food supply to all organisms that are dependent on it at the

global, regional, and local levels. Stressors such as population growth tend to magnify the effect

of climate change on food security. Although adaptations such as crop management and ranching

practices, climate change on crop production are hard felt. The whole process of food production

and consumption is affected. Climate change affects food directly through the change in rainfall

patterns, which leads to drought or flooding.

Additionally, it will lead to either warmers or cooler temperatures, which affect the

length of the growing season ( Fanzo et al.,2018). A change in growing patterns affects the crops'

marketing, prices, and supply chain infrastructure. However, the importance of climate change is

different depending on the region. Climate changes disrupt food availability; for instance,

increases in temperatures change rainfall patterns, extreme weather events, and reduced water

availability, affecting agricultural production. High exposure to natural hazards and the

dependence on climate-sensitive resources such as land, water, animals, plants, and the

unpreparedness to cope with climate change impacts affects the availability, accessibility, and

utilization of food. Climate change affects basic food production elements, such as soil and
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water, which increases the risk of crop failure, livestock loss, and reduction of forest and fishery

resources (Shen et al. 2020). A change in temperatures and weather patterns affects likely to

create suitable conditions for the emergence of pests and diseases that affect both the plants and

animals; this directly affects the quantity, quality, and availability of food. As food becomes

scarce, prices go up, and food becomes less affordable; food market fluctuations increase food

insecurity and increases emergency food relief needs, especially in developing countries.

However, despite climate change, food prices keep going up, but the increase in climate change

makes prices of the most important crops such as wheat, soybeans, wheat, and maize.

Climate change, though irregular weather patterns, acts as a multiplier of the already

existing food insecurity. More frequent and intense natural disasters, water, and land use will

reduce and become more difficult to access, making food productivity harder to achieve. The

results will be poorer people who are malnourished and lack enough food. The most affected

parties, especially in developing countries, will be women and children from marginal

communities ( Fanzo et al.,2018). Consequently, the ability to achieve food security in an

unpredictable climate changing environment is difficult since it requires a substantial increase in

food production and improved access to adequate and nutritious food, and the ability to mitigate

the risks that climate change poses. In tropical and sub-tropical areas, animal and crop

productivity decreases mostly in the arid areas due to temperature increases. The high

temperatures contribute to increased water stress, specifically in areas that depend on irrigation,

increasing salinity levels from the sea level, which may cause flooding that reduces agricultural

stability.
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The role of climate change in the rising of diseases

There is always a great relationship between the climate and the disease that affect human

life. In the case where climate changes, the rate at which the infectious diseases attack rises.

When climate change is mentioned, references of the temperature change, the sunshine intensity,

wind, and precipitation are considered to be some of the most favorable conditions for the

pathogens' breading (Corredor‐Moreno & Saunders, 2020). These conditions also facilitate the

breading or rather the reproduction of disease hosts and pathogens, and some of the conditions

also favor the survival of these hosts and pathogens. These climatic conditions change creation

for a safe environment or avail an environment and fair means for their transmission. The fact

that some of these climatic changes occur seasonally becomes the reason behind the fact that

some infectious diseases also become seasonal. That is, they are high during certain seasons.

The types of infectious diseases associated with the climatic change include vector-borne,

air-borne, water-borne, and the food-borne disease because a slight climatic change will translate

to a great change impact on the water, air, and food. Mostly the impacts are viewed in terms of

the pathogens, hosts, and the transmission. Pathogens are a wide family of disease agents like

fungi, bacteria, viruses, and parasite germs. All this do well in given climatic conditions that is

why for example when the climate changes, it creates a favorable environment or rather the

habitant for the breading for the pathogens which rises the infection rates of the disease caused

by them and also their number increases which means the transmission rate and range also widen

simultaneously (Scheday et al. 2019). Taking, for example, temperature, this is a condition that

may increase the rates of the disease infections due to the impact it has on the life cycle of the

pathogens where for example, a mosquito needs a certain temperature to survive and the

temperature range at about 22-23 degrees Celsius where if the climate changes and the
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temperature maintains at this level then the rates at which malaria infections getting registered

will be higher compare to when the temperatures are either higher or lower than that.

Other climatic changes like drought may influence the human environment where what

they consume dries up.; this translates to the fact that humans will need to device their methods

to feed themselves. What they feed or rather what is available might be something that is not

healthy for their consumption, but for survival, they will have to feed on it. In a study carried out,

food shortage in Africa brought about the alternative of people relying on the bushmeat where

most of the pandemics that are well known to be a threat in Africa like Ebola get their roots from

the bushmeat consumption (Espinosa et al. 2020). Research showed that at least 50 percent of the

Ebola cases in Africa got their direct sours from bushmeat consumption, all because of climate

change. Rates that were never experienced before the food shortage came in place.

Solutions to the current climatic change crises

Climatic changes are brought about by different causes, including human activities, air

pollution, sustainable transportations, waste management and recycling, and the circular

economy, to name but a few. When all these factors are considered, there will be a reduced

climate change rate where the cries attached with the climate change will get reduced. The

evolution that is taking place in the world has a greater impact on the climate because the human

population is growing tremendously, whereby the people keep expanding the settlement areas,

which means that the forests will get invaded. After all, the population is growing, and the

settlement area is still the same (Seddon et al., 2020). The forest is a water catchment area that

will get affected, translating to chances of drought. Still, if the human activities get controlled,

the chances are that the settlement quest's reforestation activities will be reduced. The chances

for climatic change or drought will be minimal.

Climate change crises can get controlled if solutions like Refrigerant management,

whereby HFCs will start being phased out through the Montreal portals' amendment. This

process of phasing out the HFCs will be the persistence of the condensing units and the kitchens

in the meantime, where it is speculated that by the year 2030, there will be over 700million air-

condition units that will be selling out online worldwide (Van Der Leeuw, 2019). That will

minimize the risks brought about by the air refrigerators where the refrigerators can get purified,

forming other chemicals that do not cause global warming. This method has regulated the

emission by the HFCs, hence reducing global warming that reciprocates to climate change

cruises like acid rain.

The other way to reduce or rather regulate the climatic change crises is the fact that

industries should get keen on the type of s waste they release both to the air and to the

environment surrounding it where that fact will help minimize the rates of the global worming

incidence hence saving the climate change occurrences. Economic activities like cultivation in

different places also influence climate change. By managing or rather reducing the food wastage,

there will be minimal chances for the food shortage where people will not get tempted clear more

areas for cultivation due to shortage of food, and this will help keep the water catchment areas

hence a sustainable ecosystem (Van Der Leeuw, 2019). It is also advisable that people adopt

healthy eating, which will help or save them in harsh conditions, thus assuring the climatic

reclamation due to the people's stability.

Initiatives should be set in place to help reclaim the tropical rainforest, which will help

prevent global warming. People should get educated on the ways the reasons why they should be

careful on maintaining the forests and the interconnectedness of human and the forest which after

the insight, people will be aware on the does and don’t to the environment and to be précised the
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forests which are the most reliable water catchment areas, and that will help minimize the

climate change crises (Van Der Leeuw, 2019). Family planning methods will also help reduce

the climate change crises because, with a manageable family, it will be easy to survive and work

things out during the tough times of the climate change crisis.

Conclusion

Conclusively, Climate change can be of great impact if not well taken care of; that is why

they should make sure that they make it their responsibility to observe all climatic conservation

regulations. It is evident that the industrial activities and mostly the emissions from those

industries contribute widely to the climate change of a given area; this is why all industries

should observe the regulations put in place. Climate change has been seen to facilitate the

breading of the pathogens, which increase the rates of infections. Due to these factors, all

activities that may cause climate change should be observed keenly to avoid instances of climatic

change.
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References

Aldieri, L., & Vinci, C. P. (2020). Climate change and knowledge spillovers for cleaner

production: New insights. Journal of Cleaner Production, 271, 122729.

Corredor‐Moreno, P., & Saunders, D. G. (2020). Expecting the unexpected: factors influencing

the emergence of fungal and oomycete plant pathogens. New Phytologist, 225(1), 118-

125.

Espinosa, R., Tago, D., & Treich, N. (2020). Infectious diseases and meat production.

Environmental and Resource Economics, 76(4), 1019-1044.

Fanzo, J., Davis, C., McLaren, R., & Choufani, J. (2018). The effect of climate change across

food systems: Implications for nutrition outcomes. Global food security, 18, 12-19.

Ojeaga, P. I., & Posu, S. M. (2017). Climate Change, Industrial Activity, and Economic Growth:

A Cross-Regional Analysis. Global Economic Observer, 5(2), 7-17.

Opoku, E. E. O., & Boachie, M. K. (2020). The environmental impact of industrialization and

foreign direct investment. Energy Policy, 137, 111178.

Scheday, S., Boenecke, J., Gogoi, A., Maharaj, A., & Korovou, S. (2019). Climate change,

health, and mosquito-borne diseases: trends and implications to the Pacific Region.

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(24), 5114.

Seddon, N., Chausson, A., Berry, P., Girardin, C. A., Smith, A., & Turner, B. (2020).

Understanding the value and limits of nature-based solutions to climate change and other

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Shen, M., Huang, W., Chen, M., Song, B., Zeng, G., & Zhang, Y. (2020). (Micro) plastic crisis:

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