Should climate change be redefined as a “health issue”?

“Hot air causes more smog, which in turn causes more asthma. Also high on his list are deadly storms, which are likely to become more powerful as the world warms. Infectious diseases can also increase their ranges as the climate changes.

“This is a new topic for public health,” Luber says. “This is emerging largely as a result that the scientific evidence around climate change has evolved to the point that public health feels confident engaging the science — that this is a credible threat.” …

It resonates with conservatives and liberals, and even among the broad segment of the public that just doesn’t think about climate change.

The so-called disengaged segment of the population “found the public health frame about climate change the most engaging and the most emotionally compelling,” Nisbet says.

He thinks these findings could define common ground, on an issue that has become deeply politicized and polarized. “The idea of protecting people, the innocent especially, from harm, and caring for the innocent, is a value that’s widely held across the political spectrum,” he says.”

“Global Warming as a Public Health Threat” at NPR