Even if our warming planet wasn't threatened with environmental catastrophe, the case for reducing fossil-fuel use is an easy one to make. A new study shows that reduced air pollution from cutting emissions would save millions of lives by 2100.
A new study published in Nature Climate Change, "suggests that the benefits of cuts to air pollution from curbing fossil-fuel use justify action alone – even without other climate impacts such as more extreme weather and sea-level rise," reports Damian Carrington.
A team of researchers led by Jason West, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, "found that 300,000 to 700,000 premature deaths a year would be avoided in 2030, 800,000 to 1.8 million in 2050 and 1.4 million to 3 million in 2100" if "climate change is stabilized by aggressive cuts in greenhouse gas emissions".
"A key finding was that the value of the health benefits delivered by cutting a tonne of CO2 emissions was $50 to $380, greater than the projected cost of cutting carbon in the next few decades," notes Carrington.
"It is pretty striking that you can make an argument purely on health grounds to control climate change," says West.
FULL STORY: Cleaner Air From Tackling Climate Change 'Would Save Millions of Lives'
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Chicago to Turn High-Rise Offices into Housing
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New Park Opens in the Santa Clarita Valley
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U.S. Supreme Court: California's Impact Fees May Violate Takings Clause
A California property owner took El Dorado County to state court after paying a traffic impact fee he felt was exorbitant. He lost in trial court, appellate court, and the California Supreme Court denied review. Then the U.S. Supreme Court acted.
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The way we design cities affects housing costs differently than you might think.
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