Tag: warm climate

3.. 2.. 1.. Claim: Climate Change will Cause More Hantavirus

Andes virus (ANDV) is a hantavirus primarily found in South America (especially Argentina and Chile) that causes Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS), also known as hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS). It is notable as the only hantavirus with documented (though limited) person-to-person transmission.

From Watts Up With That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

Just one problem – Ushuaia, the source of the MV Hondius cruise ship outbreak, has a comparable climate to Prince Rupert in British Columbia.

How climate change could help hantavirus find more hosts

Experts say extreme weather is boosting the odds that the pathogens carried by rodents will spill over into human populations.

The cruise ship departed Ushuaia, Argentina, in April with plans to ferry 147 passengers and crew members to some of the most remote places on earth, including Antarctica. But the ship, named the MV Hondius, had its voyage cut short by a rare virus that has killed three and infected several others. 

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The emergency also points to another growing challenge for global public health: Climate change is altering the rainfall, vegetation, and habitat conditions that influence rodent populations — changes that experts say boost the odds that the pathogens these animals carry will spill over into human populations.

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Prolonged drought sends rats and mice into populated areas in search of food, which can put people at higher risk of contracting the virus. Sudden rainfall following drought causes trees and shrubs to produce a windfall of nuts and seeds, which tend to benefit rodents and boost their numbers — all the while increasing the risk of transmission from animal to human.

…Read more: https://grist.org/health/how-climate-change-could-help-hantavirus-find-more-hosts/

My question – Australia has frequent weather extremes and rodent plagues. So why aren’t we overrun with Hantavirus? Hantavirus antibodies have been detected in Aussie rodents, but significant Hantavirus infection isn’t a thing in Australia.

From the Aussie CSIRO;

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Do we have hantaviruses in Australia? 

Australia is unique in the global hantavirus picture. It is the only inhabited continent where no confirmed human cases of hantavirus infection have been recorded. 

However, antibodies to hantavirus have been detected in some Australian rodents, suggesting related viruses are likely present at low levels.  

Several explanations for why there hasn’t been any reported cases have been proposed. One possibility is the lack of diagnosis: perhaps Australian hantavirus only causes a mild, feverish illness with kidney involvement that could easily be attributed to other causes. 

However, anyone who is unwell with persistent or serious symptoms such as respiratory issues should consult their GP for advice. This is especially the case for travellers returning from parts of Europe, Asia or the Americas.  

…Read more: https://www.csiro.au/en/news/All/Articles/2026/May/Hantavirus-explainer

Maybe a few mild human cases slipped through the net, but my point is given the low prevalence of Hantavirus in Australian rodent populations, despite our extreme cycles of drought and flooding rain, and a much warmer climate than Ushuaia in Argentina, it seems reasonable to conclude a warmer climate and greater climate extremes do not cause more Hantavirus cases. It also seems likely something about our warm climate is killing the Hantavirus which is already present in Aussie rodent populations before it becomes a significant problem.

Maybe the virus just can’t stand warm conditions. A lot of viruses can’t.

Who knows, if we get a bit more global warming, maybe cold climate places like Ushuaia will also benefit from less Hantavirus, just like warm climate Australia.

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Andes virus (ANDV) is a hantavirus primarily found in South America (especially Argentina and Chile) that causes Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS), also known as hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS). It is notable as the only hantavirus with documented (though limited) person-to-person transmission.

Transmission

Primary route: Inhalation of aerosolized virus from the urine, droppings, or saliva of infected rodents (e.g., the long-tailed pygmy rice rat). It can also occur via direct contact with rodents or contaminated surfaces, then touching the mouth, nose, or eyes.

Person-to-person: Possible but uncommon and requires prolonged close contact (e.g., household members, intimate partners, or shared enclosed spaces) and exposure to body fluids. This sets Andes virus apart from other hantaviruses, which do not spread between people. Transmission is most likely early in illness when the person is symptomatic. It is not airborne like COVID-19 or measles.

No evidence of spread via casual contact, food (except possibly contaminated), or vectors like insects.

Incubation period: Typically, 4–42 days (up to 6 weeks) after exposure.

The case fatality rate for Andes virus HPS is high, often estimated at ~35–50% (around 38% in some reports), though early supportive care in well-resourced settings can improve outcomes. Older adults and those with comorbidities face higher risk.

Climate Anxiety: Doomsday Cult or Mental Illness?

The fact is there is zero evidence global warming would reduce the survival prospects of humanity, quite the opposite.

From Watts Up With That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

Welcome to Jonestown. By Jonestown Institute, Attribution, Link

… “Over half think humanity is doomed, 56% worldwide, 51% in the UK, 73% in the Philippines,” Ms Hickman says.” …

Climate change is harming my mental health

By Morven Mckinnon

BBC Scotland News

Until two years ago Jennifer Newall was working at the forefront of climate change research. 

…

“It dawned on me,” she says. “The physics behind this haven’t changed in my lifetime. They’re not going to change going forward.”

Jennifer says she realised action was needed urgently and she no longer had the passion or motivation to continue studying the effects.

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‘Over half think humanity is doomed’

There is a growing recognition that environmental change affects not just physical but also mental health – although there is still relatively little research into the cognitive impact of it.

In 2021, Bath University lecturer, psychotherapist and researcher Caroline Hickman and her colleagues examined data from 10,000 young people, aged 16 to 25, living in 10 different countries. 

About half of those who took part in the survey reported feeling sad, anxious, angry, powerless, helpless or guilty. 

The study, published in Lancet Planetary Health, found that while threats faced in different countries varied – from food insecurity to pollution or flooding – there were similar levels of anxiety. 

“Over half think humanity is doomed, 56% worldwide, 51% in the UK, 73% in the Philippines,” Ms Hickman says.

“So there’s more closeness in relationship. Being at a distance from it physically doesn’t protect you from the emotional and cognitive impact.”

…Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-65633082

The abstract of the study;

Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: a global survey

Summary

Background

Climate change has important implications for the health and futures of children and young people, yet they have little power to limit its harm, making them vulnerable to climate anxiety. This is the first large-scale investigation of climate anxiety in children and young people globally and its relationship with perceived government response.

Methods

We surveyed 10 000 children and young people (aged 16–25 years) in ten countries (Australia, Brazil, Finland, France, India, Nigeria, Philippines, Portugal, the UK, and the USA; 1000 participants per country). Invitations to complete the survey were sent via the platform Kantar between May 18 and June 7, 2021. Data were collected on participants’ thoughts and feelings about climate change, and government responses to climate change. Descriptive statistics were calculated for each aspect of climate anxiety, and Pearson’s correlation analysis was done to evaluate whether climate-related distress, functioning, and negative beliefs about climate change were linked to thoughts and feelings about government response.

Findings

Respondents across all countries were worried about climate change (59% were very or extremely worried and 84% were at least moderately worried). More than 50% reported each of the following emotions: sad, anxious, angry, powerless, helpless, and guilty. More than 45% of respondents said their feelings about climate change negatively affected their daily life and functioning, and many reported a high number of negative thoughts about climate change (eg, 75% said that they think the future is frightening and 83% said that they think people have failed to take care of the planet). Respondents rated governmental responses to climate change negatively and reported greater feelings of betrayal than of reassurance. Climate anxiety and distress were correlated with perceived inadequate government response and associated feelings of betrayal.

Interpretation

Climate anxiety and dissatisfaction with government responses are widespread in children and young people in countries across the world and impact their daily functioning. A perceived failure by governments to respond to the climate crisis is associated with increased distress. There is an urgent need for further research into the emotional impact of climate change on children and young people and for governments to validate their distress by taking urgent action on climate change.

Funding

AVAAZ.Read more: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(21)00278-3/fulltext

The fact is there is zero evidence global warming would reduce the survival prospects of humanity, quite the opposite.

Even if, and this is a big if, some nations became intolerably hot, vast regions of other nations like Canada, which are currently only marginally inhabitable, would become temperate climate paradises.

Anyone who disputes my description of Canada as “marginally habitable” due to extreme cold needs to explain why 90% of Canadians live within 100 miles from the southern border. The northern part of Canada sometimes drops below the surface temperature of Mars.

There is substantial evidence that humans would do very well indeed if the world warmed. Monkeys emerged as a significant presence in the fossil record during the PETM, Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, when temperatures were at least 5C hotter than today. Our monkey ancestors thrived in the warmth of the PETM and spread across much of the world, only to retreat when the world cooled.

Rapid Asia–Europe–North America geographic dispersal of earliest Eocene primate Teilhardina during the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum

Thierry Smith thierry.smith@naturalsciences.be, Kenneth D. Rose, and Philip D. GingerichAuthors Info & Affiliations

Edited by Jeremy A. Sabloff, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, PA, and approved June 9, 2006

July 25, 2006

103 (30) 11223-11227

Abstract

True primates appeared suddenly on all three northern continents during the 100,000-yr-duration Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum at the beginning of the Eocene, ≈55.5 mya. The simultaneous or nearly simultaneous appearance of euprimates on northern continents has been difficult to understand because the source area, immediate ancestors, and dispersal routes were all unknown. Now, omomyid haplorhine Teilhardinais known on all three continents in association with the carbon isotope excursion marking the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum. Relative position within the carbon isotope excursion indicates that Asian Teilhardina asiatica is oldest, European Teilhardina belgicais younger, and North American Teilhardina brandti and Teilhardina americana are, successively, youngest. Analysis of morphological characteristics of all four species supports an Asian origin and a westward Asia-to-Europe-to-North America dispersal for Teilhardina. High-resolution isotope stratigraphy indicates that this dispersal happened in an interval of ≈25,000 yr. Rapid geographic dispersal and morphological character evolution in Teilhardina reported here are consistent with rates observed in other contexts.Read more: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0511296103

The primates reached North America through Greenland and Canada. Conditions were benign enough in the Arctic that tropical weather loving primates crossed regions which are now buried under permanent glaciers.

Given this irrefutable proof that a warm climate is good for primates, why do so many people, even some with scientific training, cling to the psychologically damaging fantasy that if the temperature climbs a little we’re all doomed? Why are kids terrified daily in classrooms, to the point some of them destroy themselves with hard drugs, or commit suicide?

One can only speculate what motivates such trauma, why some people find it easier to cling to damaging fantasies than to look at the evidence. But looking back through history, it’s easy to identify many similar episodes of apocalyptic belief – Jonestown, fear of the bomb, fear of Covid, fear of witches, it’s a long list.

The only relief if you can call it that, is that belief in the climate apocalypse is rapidly being displaced by fear of malevolent AI. Across the world, governments are moving to “contain” this new imaginary threat. I suspect fear of AI if anything will be even worse than the climate crisis, because AI is all around us.

But during the transition to the new imaginary threat we may if we are lucky gain a few years of peace, during which the brainwashing messages imposed on kids are confused and ineffectual. There may be a short period of time when our children to grow and thrive without being brutalised daily by authoritatively compelling messages of certain doom.

Climate Anxiety: Doomsday Cult or Mental Illness?
man says.” …
From Watts Up With That?