In this article, we look at the major risks that climate change poses to human health and discuss who might be most at risk from its effects. Public health impact Changes in air quality from climate change may impact a person’s physical and mental health. Extremes in weather and temperature, increased pollution and environmental toxins, and changes in food security can all cause physical and mental health problems. Climate change is affecting some of the essential factors that influence human health, including: safety of shelter air quality quality, safety, and supply of drinking water food availability nutrition levels in food As climate change progresses, researchers expect an increase in related health issues. Infectious diseases According to the WHO, climate change is likely to cause an increase in insect-transmitted infections and waterborne diseases. The reason for this is that changes in climate could increase the length of the seasons during which insects transmit infections. T...

  A video from Punjab which became viral in June showed a newly married woman—wedding bangles (chooda) on her wrists—taking drugs. She put a lighted candle below a foil and snorted what was thought to be chitta—Punjab's notorious synthetic drug made from heroin and other substances. The video indicates that Punjab's drug problem is not restricted to the typical demographic of unemployed youth. It is rampant across divides such as class, gender, age and geography. No wonder, the Punjab government recently ordered all its employees to undergo drug tests. A crackdown on drugs by the state government after Capt Amarinder Singh came to power last year has led to arrests of a large number of peddlers and choked supply routes. Yet there is no end to the problem. In June this year, dozens of drug-related deaths were reported in the state. In the last few years, while the business and economy in the state kept sliding, the drugs trade flourished. With addicts turning peddlers and severa...

  What Is Carbon Pricing? The phrase put a price on carbon has now become well known with momentum growing among countries and business to put a price on carbon pollution as a means of bringing down emissions and drive investment into cleaner options. So what does it mean to put a price on carbon, and why do many government and business leaders support it? There are several paths governments can take to price carbon, all leading to the same result. They begin to capture what are known as the external costs of carbon emissions – costs that the public pays for in other ways, such as damage to crops and health care costs from heat waves and droughts or to property from flooding and sea level rise – and tie them to their sources through a price on carbon. A price on carbon helps shift the burden for the damage back to those who are responsible for it, and who can reduce it. Instead of dictating who should reduce emissions where and how, a carbon price gives an economic signal and pollu...