The Trump administration published a major report on climate change the day after Thanksgiving. We will explore the key findings each day this week

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Donald Trump doesn’t believe his own government’s major report on climate change – which the administration tried to bury over the Thanksgiving break. It warns that rising temperatures are already harming America and will cause huge damage globally.

Climate change will dirty the air, help spread disease and kill people with extreme heat

Climate change will exacerbate wildfires and droughts, causing particulate pollution from smoke and windblown dust and increasing smog that forms in higher temperatures.

Trump on own administration's climate report: 'I don't believe it' Read more

Worldwide, 5.5 billion people, or 75% of the population, live in places that don’t meet the World Health Organization standard for limiting particulate pollution, according to research by the University of Chicago.

Air pollution shortens lives. In areas with the worst air, including in the Indian capital Delhi, people could live up to seven and a half years longer with less pollution.

Aside from early deaths, air pollution also causes breathing and heart problems and worsens asthma.

“In the last few years, we’ve seen enormous spikes in episodes where wildfires contribute to pollution,” said Janice Nolen, assistant vice-president of national policy for the American Lung Association. “It doesn’t have to be a continuous problem every day to be unhealthy. It can be that a spike happens for a few days of difficult breathing that shorten lives.”

Rising temperatures and increased carbon dioxide levels will also make plant-based allergies worse by lengthening the pollen season and increasing the amount of pollen made by plants.

Beyond air pollution, climate change is a threat to human health via extreme heat, reduced food and water quality, and population displacement.

Depending on action taken to slow climate change, an additional 3,900 to 9,300 across 49 large cities in the US are predicted to die each year from extremely hot or cold days by the last two decades of this century, the report finds.

Infectious agents will also spread wider with migrating mosquitoes and ticks.

“Often people, when they’re affected by climate change, are affected by it in multiple ways,” Nolen said. “You’re affected by air quality, you’re affected by heat, you can be affected by a variety of things from allergens being increased, from mold from flooding, not to mention just stress.”