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We often talk about the ways climate change affects the Earth (think: polar bears teetering on shrinking ice caps) but forget to consider its impact on our own health. Recently, an urgent report from several federal agencies emphasized this connection, including both straightforward consequences (such as that warmer oceans mean more frequent and intense hurricanes) and indirect hazards like how extreme weather events knock out medical services, making it harder to treat people.
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Our health risks are changing because of climate shifts,” says John Balbus, M.D., M.P.H., a senior adviser for public health at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.