As we round the corner into a brand new year, we caught up with Bill Nye (you know, the Science Guy) to find out what health topics are on his mind. Here's the one issue this Science Guy wants us to be talking about in 2015:
"I would love it to be about climate change," he told R29. Nye explains that although they aren't necessarily obvious, the human health effects of climate change will be far-reaching. "We’re not going to be able to raise enough food, diseases will move...away from the equator, we’ll start to have extreme weather events where people will have trouble with heat [and] cold." Nye's book, Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation, was released last November, and he's spoken out about climate change previously.
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Although the literature is limited and the topics are complicated, some have suggested that climate change is partly to blame for the severity of 2014's Ebola outbreak. As temperatures change across the country, unusual spreading patterns of Lyme disease and West Nile virus are also possible.
We're already dealing with climate change's effects on food availability — just ask any avocado-lover. And, we've certainly seen our fair share of extreme weather events over the past few years.
So, how can we help make this an important health topic this year? "Vote, talk about climate change, and get everybody talking about climate change," says Nye. We're on it, Science Guy.