The One Planet Coalition established at the recent climate summit is working to ensure that the 174 nations that have ratified the Paris Agreement follow through on their commitments to battle global warming.

The agreement is widely seen as an effort to counteract the ecological and economic impact of rising global temperatures: melting glaciers and ice sheets, rising water levels, and increasing frequency of extreme weather, from severe storms to extended drought, that have had crushing economic consequences.

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But global warming is doing far more than changing topography and weather. It is also having a series of devastating, detrimental effects on human health.

As noxious greenhouse gases cause a warming of the atmosphere, that change in the climate, in turn, exacerbates pollution that is literally killing millions of people every year.

The Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health, which one of us leads, recently reported that pollution is the number one environmental cause of disease in the world, responsible for 9 million premature deaths in 2015 alone, 16 percent of all deaths worldwide.

That’s three times more than the toll from AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. While the impact is most severe in low-income and middle-income countries, advanced economies, like the United States, are also suffering the consequences.

Higher temperatures result in higher levels of air pollution, as more electricity is needed to keep buildings cool. Many electrical plants are major emitters of carbon dioxide, particularly those that burn coal, which is the most inefficient and polluting fossil fuel.

Particulate matter released by power plants, as well as factories and vehicles, is a leading cause of heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung cancer.

Children, especially those under age six, are at greatest risk, because they breathe four times as much air per pound of body weight as adults. In fact, scientists have documented the development of asthma by age six as a result of exposure to particulate air pollution. On high-pollution days, asthma admissions to hospitals rise, as do rates of pneumonia and sudden infant death syndrome.

A child’s developing brain can be susceptible to air toxins, with research showing air pollution associated with memory and attention deficits, as well as learning disabilities. A recent study found a connection between air pollution and psychiatric disorders in children.

We are still learning about other long-term damage air pollution may cause in the brain; research is now showing a possible link between air pollution and an increased risk of dementia.

Evidence of pollution’s toll requires the medical community’s attention. This is why we recently established an Institute for Exposomic Research, to focus on early environmental exposures, their effect on health, and strategies for disease prevention and treatment.

Beyond pollution, extreme weather itself is a stressor; mortality and disease among the most vulnerable among us — the young, the elderly, and those with chronic illness — has been shown to increase with prolonged heat waves.

Extreme hot or cold weather poses numerous health threats, ranging from higher risks of heart attack to premature births. The heat wave in continental Europe in the summer of 2003 ultimately resulted in a death toll of 70,000.

As the United States warms, the danger of exposure to mosquito-borne Zika virus rises, since conditions are becoming more conducive for mosquito breeding and survival; 76 percent of major cities have seen their mosquito season lengthen since 1980.

The consequences of Zika can be fatal for infants who acquire the virus in utero from their mothers. As of mid-December, the Centers for Disease Control’s U.S. Zika Pregnancy Registry counted 102 infected infants born with neurological birth defects, as well as nine pregnancy losses that had birth defects.

Warmer, wetter environments strengthen populations of the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes that can carry not only Zika virus, but dengue fever and chikungunya as well, and allow them to survive the winter in more parts of the United States.

Dengue, with symptoms including high fever, skin rash, and severe headaches, reemerged in Texas in 2013. A case of chikungunya, which causes high fever and joint pain, was identified in the United States in 2014, the first ever acquired in our country. Ticks also are thriving as a result of climate change, helping to explain the rising incidence of Lyme disease they spread.

Warmer weather is also triggering longer and more severe pollen seasons, increasing the incidence of allergies, causing havoc for allergy sufferers, and exacerbating symptoms for those with asthma. As infections, asthma, and allergy rates rise, so will the burden of these illnesses on our health care system. All of us, regardless of income or geography, will become more and more vulnerable to these diseases.

Thus, while many Americans may not believe global warming is a problem that will harm them personally, in fact it is already impacting the health of millions of us, both directly and indirectly.

Washington’s decision to pull out of the Paris Agreement on climate change, scheduled to take effect in 2020, is likely to worsen the situation, even as many mayors and governors are pledging to abide by terms of the pact to reduce emissions.

The decision to pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement was based upon an “America First” policy that doesn’t factor in the very real ways climate change affects America, even today. We must recognize that climate change is an American problem that threatens our health. Temperature, air pollution, and climate do not respect international boundaries.

Avoidance is not an option. The economic, social, and health impact of climate change on our country has consequences for our generation, our children’s generation, and all future generations.

As experts in environmental medicine and doctors concerned with the health of our patients, we believe the United States is making a very serious mistake by withdrawing from its commitment to the Paris Agreement.

In the face of our government’s short-sighted and ill-advised decision, we wholeheartedly support the “We Are Still In” coalition of American companies, states, and cities pledging to meet the U.S. commitment to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2025.

For the protection of public health, we must make good on our commitment and participate in the One Planet Coalition that is fighting climate change.

Philip Landrigan, MD, is dean for Global Health of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Robert Wright, MD, is chair of the Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health and Director of the Mount Sinai Institute for Exposomic Research.