Climate change threatens to turn Montana’s beautiful big sky into a big smoky haze that harms people’s health.
There could be as much as a thousand-fold increase in wildfires by the middle of this century, Montana State University scientist Cathy Whitlock said Wednesday.
Whitlock, an earth sciences professor, regents professor and co-founder of the Montana Institute on Ecosystems, was one of several speakers in a two-day seminar focusing on climate change and Montanans’ health.
About 70 people attended online or in person. The seminar continues online today at noon from the University of Montana (www.healthyclimatemt.com).
“Anyone who studies climate change recognizes it is the No. 1 issue facing the planet,” Whitlock said. “We need to reduce greenhouse emissions — now. It keeps me awake at night.”
Extreme heat and smoky air are two of climate change’s biggest threats to public health, Whitlock said. It also hurts the quality of food and water, and helps spread infectious diseases.
She was one of the leaders of the 2017 Montana Climate Assessment report, which focused on impacts on Montana’s water, forests and agriculture. Now, she said, the goal is to write a new report focusing on climate change and health. One of the most tangible ways to get people to think about climate change, she said, is to consider effects on their health and their grandchildren.
More heat means faster-melting snowpacks, drier forests, more drought and more fires, she said. Rising temperatures have already made our summer growing season 12 days longer. We used to have a five-month fire season, she said, and now it’s seven months.
Dr. Robert Byron, internist with the Bighorn Valley Health Center in eastern Montana, said air pollution from burning fossil fuels, one of the main causes of climate change, is already killing people — about 200,000 a year — and causing 180,000 heart attacks.
Smoke and other particulates polluting the air affect pregnant women and their babies, he said, retarding growth and causing premature births. Air pollution also hurts the 10 percent of Americans who have asthma or chronic lung conditions.
In the Seeley Lake area during Montana’s record fire and smoke season of 2017, emergency room visits more than doubled, he said, and the elderly were especially affected.
Heat causes not only cardiopulmonary problems but also mental health problems. Every half-degree rise in temperature is associated with more violent behavior and increased suicides, Byron said. Heat waves contribute to alcohol and substance abuse.
One Seattle study found that the risk of death increases 10 percent on high heat days, he said.
Warming temperatures are also making it easier for mosquitoes and ticks to spread diseases, and Lyme disease and West Nile virus have reached Montana.
John Doyle of the Crow tribe and Christine Martin of Little Big Horn College said tribal members have seen many changes from climate change. Summers are longer with more 90-degree days, which is harder on elders.
Smoke turns the sky a “dirty yellow,” Doyle said. Yet plenty of people still are reluctant to believe in climate change.
“We all feel we need to do something and we do not know what to do,” he said. “There’s a sense of hopelessness and helplessness.”
Byron said a Yale study found that about 70 percent of people consider climate change very important, but only 20 percent talk about it with friends.
Talking about it “will make a difference in the long run,” Byron said. “It’s time to wake up.”
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