Garrett on Global Health

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Greetings from sweltering New York, which has been united with the rest of the eastern United States in weeks of heat and humidity, often above a heat index of 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37–38 degrees Celsius). Along the Mississippi Delta and throughout Louisiana, this heat wave has brought record-breaking rains, flooding, at least eleven deaths, and tens of thousands of evacuations. Parts of Thailand and Moscow have been inundated this summer with record floods. Out west, the heat, coupled with a record-breaking drought, has brought wildfires of unprecedented frequency and severity. On Wednesday, for example, tens of thousands of Californians were evacuated from San Bernardino as a massive fire devoured homes and businesses. Thanks to the fires and hot air capped over southern California, air pollution has reached near-Beijing levels of smog, ozone, and fine particulate matter. A new study out of the University of Southern California finds that Los Angeles air is worsening the outcomes of treatment for lung cancer and other respiratory diseases.

Heat, floods, fire—three great threats to human health.