Cutting global warming pollution would not only make the planet healthier, it would make people healthier too, says officials, as they releases studies calculating the health benefits of a less sickly climate.
Slashing carbon dioxide emissions could save millions of lives, mostly by reducing preventable deaths from heart and lung diseases, the studies show. They are published in a special issue of The Lancet British medical journal, released Wednesday.
The calculations of lives saved are based on computer models that looks at pollution-caused illnesses in certain cities. The figures are also based on the world making dramatic changes in daily life that may at first seem too hard and costly to do, researchers concedes.
Cutting carbon dioxide emissions will also reduce other types of air pollution, especially tiny particles that lodge in the lungs and cause direct health damage, doctors says. Other benefits can come from encouraging more exercise and less meat consumption, to improve heart health, researchers says. Read more…