NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO • November 3, 2020
Scientists from the World Meteorological Organization released a report which shows that millions of people were affected by wildfires, floods and extreme heat this year on top of the global pandemic. Separately, an analysis published Wednesday by the medical research journal The Lancet finds that heat waves, air pollution and extreme weather increasingly damage human health. Both reports make an explicit connection between death, disease and burning fossil fuels. Dr. Renee Salas, an emergency room physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, says governments who want to support public health must stop financially supporting the fossil fuel industry. Dr. Georges Benjamin, the executive director of the American Public Health Association, says, "It's preventable," Benjamin says. "We don't have to live this way."