23 November 2019 | New Scientist | 17Analysis Climate changeA CHILD born today faces
far-reaching health effects
from living through a world
4°C warmer than humans have
ever experienced, according
to a major new assessment.
But the research doesn’t support
claims by some activists that
children may not grow up at all.
The 2019 report by the Lancet
Countdown on health and climate
change – put together by doctors
and researchers – warns that
children are particularly vulnerable
to climate change. This is because
a warming world exposes them
to more infectious diseases,
malnutrition and stunted growth,
and dirty air that hinders the
development of their lungs
(The Lancet, doi.org/dd75).
A major concern is Vibrio
cholerae, the bacterium that leads
to diarrhoeal disease, the world’s
number two killer of children
under the age of 5. People
are most susceptible in certain
coastal areas, and the percentage
of these at-risk regions has
already grown almost a third in
the Baltic and north-east US since
the 1980s as warming changes
sea surface temperatures.Elizabeth Robinson at the
University of Reading, UK, one of
the report’s authors, says children’s
diets are also at risk, with under
nutrition and malnutrition set
to rise as climate change causes
food production to fall.
Higher temperatures will trap
more air pollution in some cities,
says another author, Nicholas
Watts at University College
London. This will have a particular
impact on children. “It has lifelong
effects on your lungs as they are
trying to develop,” he says.Watts says the current trajectory
of global carbon emissions means
that we are on track for more
warming than the worst case
scenario – of a 2.8-4.6°C rise by
between 2080 and 2100 – so
4°C is a conservative estimate of
what a person born today might
experience. That assumes a global
average life expectancy of 71.
The report follows recent claims
that rising temperatures meanchildren may not grow up at all.
“People probably sometimes ask
you: what are you going to be
when you grow up? But we’ve
reached a point in human history
where the question also has to
be asked: what are you going to
do if you grow up?” Rupert Read,
a spokesperson for Extinction
Rebellion, told children in July.
His remarks were condemned
last month by climate scientists
for straying beyond what science
says. Read tells New Scientist
his comments stem not just from
the risk to children from issues
such as infectious diseases and
malnutrition but from “potential
societal collapse”, and the need
to err on the side of precaution.
The health effects of climate
change don’t need exaggerating:
the Lancet Countdown report lays
out dire impacts if emissions go
unchecked. On the positive side,
the report makes clear that
acting on climate change could
improve health compared with
conditions today.
Watts says a child born in the UK
today will, by the age of 6, live
in a country without coal power
stations. By 21, they will be unable
to buy a petrol car – a date that
politicians have hinted may come
earlier. When 31, they will live in
a society that should have hit
net-zero emissions, with cycling
and walking more prevalent.
“By the time you reach net zero,
you have cleaner air, healthier
diets, more liveable cities, you
have stronger, more resilient
health systems,” says Watts.
Which one of the two pathways
we pick is a political question,
he adds. “It’s now entirely a
question of implementation,
of getting on with it.” ❚STEFAN^ BONES
S/PAN
OSPICTURE
SChildren are
increasingly protesting
about climate change4°C
Global warming a person
born today is likely to seeGrowing up in a warming world Children face serious health
risks from climate change - but not an apocalyptic future as
some campaigners claim, reports Adam VaughanAnimals
Ruby Prosser Scully
PIGEONS with mutilated feet are
a common sight in cities – and
human hair appears to be a grisly
culprit. It turns out that the greater
the number of hairdressers on
a city block, the more pigeons
have missing toes.
This isn’t the only explanation
for the birds’ missing toes. One
widespread belief is that pigeons
get foot infections from standing
in their own excrement. But birds
often have string or human hair
wrapped around their toes and feet.
This can tighten, cutting off
circulation and leading to tissue
death and the toe falling off.
This observation prompted
Frédéric Jiguet at the National
Museum of Natural History in
France and his colleagues to study
the relationship between the foot
health of pigeons and possible
sources of these hairs or strings.
To do this, they looked at
the number of foot mutilations
in pigeons found at 46 sites
across Paris, and how these
related to different features
in the environment.
Pigeons were more likely to
have mutilated toes in city blocks
where air and noise pollution was
high, and where a greater number
of people lived, they found.
In addition, the greater the
number of hairdressers on a city
block, the higher the chance pigeons
were to have lost toes – seemingly
because waste hair is escaping
into the environment (Biological
Conservation, doi.org/dd76).
Hair cut at the hairdressers is
removed by garbage collection
services along with household
wastes, and residual cut hair would
end up on the pavements where
pigeons could get caught up in it,
say the authors.
If the birds can’t untangle
themselves, the hairs begin
garrotting the toes – causing what
is known as “stringfoot”. ❚
Pigeons’ toes are
being amputated by
waste human hair