New York City Heats Up Killing 3,331 People Every Year Due to Climate Change

A new study warns how heat waves in New York can cause 3,331 deaths every year beginning 2080. Scientists also say that the number of hotter days will increase up to three times in the 2080s which can cause extreme dehydration, heat exhaustion and serious respiratory diseases.

Researchers from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health also reveal that these hotter days will register higher temperatures of 32 to 37 degrees Celsius as New York City temperatures will be comparable to temperatures in Norfolk, Virginia by the 2080s.

According to author of the study, lisaveta Petkova who is the director at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia, we already know that climate change is creating more heat thus making more days even more so extremely hot, that puts people at risk in death for the next decades. In this new study, these deaths can be averted by limiting greenhouse gas emissions and applying measures that can help people adapt to higher temperatures.

In this new study, a new climate model was developed that considered factors like population, morality, and temperatures. This particular model however, included how humans adapt with strategies, including population growth and estimated greenhouse gas levels.

New findings revealed that 1,779 deaths can be prevented if the climate does not exceed greenhouse gas concentration pathways of 4.5 and 8.5 and even higher levels can prevent 1,1198 deaths.

Citizens of New York are now practicing safety health measures to prevent the dangerous effects of higher temperatures where they use air conditioning, rising from 39 percent of households with installed air conditioning to 84 percent in 2003.

Researchers also suggest that reflective roof design and systems and lusher plants and trees around neighborhoods can shield harmful effects of the sun, preventing extreme heat.  This new study is published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.