WARNING: Heat can kill you and will reduce your health and wellbeing, whether you believe it or not. Please read the facts. The state of the climate is not normal. Human-Caused Climate Change and Heatwave Trends Human-caused climate change has fundamentally altered global weather patterns, making heatwaves more frequent, more intense, and longer-lasting. According to […]
Category Archives: health and wellness
Human-Caused Climate Change and Heatwave Trends
How Is Your Electric Made?
I happen to be in a somewhat unusual position geographically—I’m between the Limerick and Peach Bottom nuclear plants, so a significant portion of my electricity comes from nuclear generation. I’m not particularly pro-nuclear because it takes far too long to build new plants, and the construction itself (especially the enormous amount of concrete and steel) […]
Elevated Nighttime Minimum Temperatures and the Intensification of Heat-Health Risk
by Daniel Brouse Abstract Nighttime minimum temperatures are increasing in many regions at a faster rate than daytime maximum temperatures, representing a critical but underappreciated dimension of climate change. Because human and ecosystem recovery from heat stress depends heavily on nocturnal cooling, this trend has important implications for health outcomes, agriculture, energy demand, and ecological […]
July Fourth in Philadelphia: Extreme Heat Puts FIFA Players and Fans at Risk
Philadelphia is forecast to experience a critical heat emergency on July 4, with heat index values expected to reach 91–95°F under dangerously humid conditions. Even modest physical exertion outdoors can increase the risk of heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and, in severe cases, death. Extreme heat is more than uncomfortable—it is one of the deadliest weather […]
Heat Can Kill You. Heat Will Age You.
Exposure to extreme heat accelerates biological aging, damaging tissues and shortening telomeres at a cellular level. Although this article focuses on the current heatwave affecting Philadelphia, the same principles apply across much of the world. As climate change drives more frequent and intense heatwaves, millions of people are facing increasing exposure to dangerous combinations of […]
Climate Responsibility and Accountability
Addendum to: Solutions to the Fossil Fuel Economy and the Myths Accelerating Climate and Economic Collapse http://membrane.com/global_warming/Basic-Economics.html Climate Responsibility and Accountability Introduction The original purpose of Solutions to the Fossil Fuel Economy and the Myths Accelerating Climate and Economic Collapse was to focus on practical solutions rather than assigning blame. Since its publication, however, many […]
The Evolution of Climate Change: From Linear Warming to Nonlinear Earth-System Acceleration
By Daniel Brouse and Sidd Mukherjee During the 1980s, I worked primarily as an economist specializing in risk management. By the early 1990s, however, it had become clear that the greatest systemic risk facing civilization was not financial—it was climate change. Working with physicist Sidd Mukherjee, we began developing what we called the Nonlinear Acceleration […]
The Full Economic Burden of Climate Change in the United States
Beyond Point Estimates: An Ensemble-Based Probabilistic Framework for Estimating the Full Economic Burden of Climate Change in the United States Daniel Brouse and Sidd Mukherjee Abstract Traditional estimates of climate damages generally report single-value estimates or narrow ranges that fail to capture the cascading uncertainty inherent in coupled human-natural systems. Climate change is not a […]
Addendum: Distinguishing the Benefits of Energy from the Costs of Fossil Fuel Combustion
A common criticism of climate damage accounting is that it focuses on the costs of fossil fuels without acknowledging the benefits they have provided to modern civilization. This criticism conflates two distinct concepts: the benefits of energy and the benefits of burning fossil fuels. This paper does not argue that reliable energy, transportation, heating, cooling, […]
Quantifying the Climate Tax: The Full Ledger of Harm
Macro-Welfare Frameworks vs. Economic Justice Valuation in the United States Daniel Brouse and Sidd Mukherjee I. Introduction A. Research Problem Climate change imposes large and growing costs on the United States, yet there is still no centralized national ledger that captures the full burden in a unified way. Conventional economic indicators—especially GDP, insured losses, and […]