Part Three / How it Affects Us

Samuel S. Myers

All online sources accessed on 27 February 2022

149. a voracious swarm of desert locusts Njagi, D., ‘The biblical locust plagues of 2020’, BBC Future Planet, 6 August 2020, https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200806-the-biblical-east-african-locust-plagues-of-2020.

     recent changes in ocean and atmospheric circulations Salih, A. A. M., et al., ‘Climate change and locust outbreak in East Africa’, Nature Climate Change, 10 (7), 2020: 584–5, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-0835-8.

     reducing yields and causing crop failure Myers, S. S., et al., ‘Climate change and global food systems: potential impacts on food security and undernutrition’, Annual Review of Public Health, 38, 2017: 259–77, https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031816-044356.

     crops grown at these elevated CO₂ concentrations Myers, S. S., et al., ‘Increasing CO₂ threatens human nutrition’, Nature, 510 (7503), 2014: 139–42, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13179.

150. several varieties of rice also experience large reductions Zhu C., et al., ‘Carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels this century will alter the protein, micronutrients, and vitamin content of rice grains with potential health consequences for the poorest rice-dependent countries’, Science Advances, 4 (5), 2018: Article eaaq1012, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaq1012

     In modelling studies, we found that these nutrient shifts Medek, D. E., et al., ‘Estimated effects of future atmospheric CO₂ concentrations on protein intake and the risk of protein deficiency by country and region’, Environmental Health Perspectives, 125, (8), 2017, https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP41; Myers, S. S., et al., ‘Effect of increased concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide on the global threat of zinc deficiency: a modelling study’, Lancet Global Health, 3 (10), 2015: e639–e645, https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(15)00093-5.

     an increase of 132 million people suffering from folate deficiency Smith, M. R., and Myers, S. S., ‘Global health implications of nutrient changes in rice under high atmospheric carbon dioxide’, GeoHealth, 3 (7), 2019: 190–200, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GH000188.

     thiamine deficiency … nerve, heart and brain damage Ibid.

     1.4 billion women and children under five Smith, M. R., et al., ‘Potential rise in iron deficiency due to future anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions’, GeoHealth, 1 (6), 2017: 248–57, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GH000018; Smith, M. R., and Myers, S. S., ‘Impact of anthropogenic CO₂ emissions on global human nutrition’, Nature Climate Change, 8 (9), 2018: 834–9, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0253-3.

     driving species extinct at a thousand times the baseline rate World Wildlife Fund, Living Planet Report 2020: Bending the Curve of Biodiversity Loss, 10 September 2020, https://www.worldwildlife.org/publications/living-planet-report-2020.

     a greater than 75 per cent decline in flying insects Hallmann, C. A., et al., ‘More than 75 per cent decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas’, PLOS One, 12 (10), 2017: Article e0185809, https://doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0185809.

     a key role in providing humanity with nutritious diets Garibaldi, L. A., et al., ‘Exploring connections between pollinator health and human health’, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 377 (1853) 2021: Article 20210158, https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0158.

     a large share of the total calories Klein, A.-M., et al., ‘Importance of pollinators in changing landscapes for world crops’, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 274 (1608), 2006: 303–13, https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2006.3721.

     an even larger share of nutrients Eilers, E. J., et al., ‘Contribution of pollinator-mediated crops to nutrients in the human food supply’, PLOS One, 6 (6), 2011: Article e21363, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0021363

     up to 1.4 million excess deaths every year Smith, M. R., et al., ‘Effects of decreases of animal pollinators on human nutrition and global health: a modelling analysis’, Lancet, 386 (10007), 2015: 1964–72, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)61085-6.

     the global fish harvest has been steadily declining Pauly, D., and Zeller, D., ‘Catch reconstructions reveal that global marine fisheries catches are higher than reported and declining’, Nature Communications, 7, 2016: Article 10244, https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10244.

151. Ocean warming is likely to worsen these trends Cheung, W. W. L., et al., ‘Signature of ocean warming in global fisheries catch’, Nature, 497 (7449), 2013: 365–8, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12156.

     over 1 billion people depend on wild-harvested fish Golden, C. D., et al., ‘Fall in fish catch threatens human health’, Nature, 534 (7607), 2016: 317–20, https://doi.org/10.1038/534317a.

     nutrition is being squeezed in a vice Myers, S. S., ‘Food and nutrition on a rapidly changing planet’, in Myer, S. S., and Frumkin, H., eds., Planetary Health: Protecting Nature to Protect Ourselves (Washington, DC: Island Press 2020).

     Protecting our planet is no longer only an environmental priority Myers and Frumkin, eds., Planetary Health.