Effects over people and animals:

Effects over people and animals:

According to the best predictions available, melting and expansion may result in a sea-level rise of 25-75 centimeters by the year 2100 and by 1-3 meters over a period of 500 years.An increase of that magnitude 838t198i might not be significant if it happened only once.If it were to continue over time, however, it might pose a serious problem for human settlements.

Climatic change affects human health in many different ways, most of which are adverse; it is anticipated that climatic change will lead to the loss of many lives. Direct causes of death will include intensified heat waves and diseases. Indirect causes will include expanded geographical sphere of activity of organisms carrying contagious diseases, and their extended period of activity, resulting in an increase in contagious diseases, including malaria, dengue fever and yellow fever. Higher atmospheric temperatures and more frequent flooding are expected to result in higher rates of salmonella poisoning and cholera.
The negative impact of hot summer weather on the elderly is also worrisome. It is reported that the death rate increases, especially among those aged 65 and above, when the daily maximum temperature exceeds 33.

Many animal vectors of disease prefer warmer and more humid conditions for breeding, and global warming could enable such animals to become established further north. Vectors of concern include mosquitoes, which transmit (among other diseases) malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever and West Nile fever; ticks, which spread tick-borne encephalitis; and sandflies which spread visceral leishmaniasis.

Approximately 20-30 percent of plant and animal species assessed so far are likely to be at higher risk of extinction if increases in global average temperature exceed 1.5-2.5 degrees Celsius.

Climate change is projected to reduce water resources on many small islands and to adversely affect the livelihoods of island communities by undermining fisheries, tourism and other core components of island economies.

Direct causes of air pollution related deaths include aggravated asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, lung and heart diseases, and respiratory allergies.

The most significant health problem caused by noise pollution is hearing loss. Any noise appreciably louder than talking can damage the delicate hair cells in the cochlea, the structure in the inner ear that converts sound waves into auditory nerve signals. The initial damage to the cochlea may be temporary, but with repeated exposure, the damage becomes permanent. Loud noise deafens quickly-extremely loud sounds, such as gunshots at close range, can cause immediate hearing loss. But even sound levels of only 85 decibels will cause some hearing loss after prolonged exposure. Ten million Americans have some hearing loss due partly or wholly to exposure to loud sounds, and 20 million are at risk. In addition to deafness, many people with damaged ears are afflicted with tinnitus, or ringing in the ears.

Human infectious diseases are among the most serious effects of water pollution, especially in developing countries, where sanitation may be inadequate or non-existent. Waterborne diseases occur when parasites or other disease-causing microorganisms are transmitted via contaminated water, particularly water contaminated by pathogens originating from excreta. These include typhoid, intestinal parasites, and most of the enteric and diarrheal diseases caused by bacteria, parasites, and viruses. Among the most serious parasitic diseases are amoebiasis, giardiasis, ascariasis, and hookworm

The problem of radioactive pollution is compounded by the difficulty in assessing its effects. Radioactive waste may spread over a broad area quite rapidly and irregularly (from an abandoned dump into an aquifer, for example), and may not fully show its effects upon humans and organisms for decades in the form of cancer or other chronic diseases.