A healthy lifestyle can mitigate genetic risk for early death by 62%, study suggests
Even if your genetics put you at greater risk for early death, a healthy lifestyle could help you significantly combat it, according to a new study.
Younger generations will be more severely threatened by climate change and extreme weather events compared to older generations, exposing inequities in intergenerational exposure to climate extremes a climate study says.
The study, published last week in the journal Science, says that under global warming, extreme events such as heat waves will “continue to rise in frequency, intensity, duration and spatial extent over the next decades,” meaning younger generations will experience far more of them.
The study estimates that under current climate policy pledges, children born in 2020 will experience two to seven times more extreme weather events, particularly heat waves, compared with people born in 1960.
“Our results highlight a severe threat to the safety of young generations and call for drastic emission reductions to safeguard their future,” the study authors state.
Canada, alongside the U.S. and Europe, has raised greenhouse gas emission targets ahead of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland in November.
Canada announced in July that it was raising its target to cut 40 to 45 per cent of its emissions below 2005 levels by 2030.
A UN report released in September said that current pledges to reduce emissions will still result in levels 16 per cent higher in 2030, pushing global warming close to 2.7 degrees Celsius by 2100.
The Paris Agreement, which Canada signed, was ratified around the goal of keeping global warming around 1.5 C to avoid catastrophic climate change.
The study posits that the land area affected by heat waves will increase from 15 percent to 22 per cent by 2100 under a scenario in which the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to 1.5 C is reached, but that figure jumps to 46 per cent when in line with current emission reduction pledges from nations.
When examining how younger generations will be faced with an increase in global warming and extreme events, the study combined life-expectancy data from different countries, climate models of extreme weather event projections and future global temperature trajectories from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 C.
The results allowed researchers to examine lifetime exposure to climate extremes across birth cohorts – or generations – globally.
One example cited in the study is that a person born in 1960 will on average, experience two to four heat waves (defined by the study’s extreme heat wave classification) across their lifetime.
However a child born in 2020 will experience approximately nine to 30 heat waves under a scenario in which current climate pledges are honoured. The study authors say that number is reduced to seven to 22 heat waves if warming is limited to 2 C, or eight to 18 heat waves if pledges follow the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to 1.5 C.
The study authors applied their approach to other extreme events they analyzed -- such as wildfires, crop failures, droughts, river floods, heat waves and tropical cyclones – generating a total of 273 global-scale projections.
“Our results highlight that lifetime exposure to each of the extreme events consistently increases for higher warming levels and younger [generations],” the study says.
If global warming increases by 3 C, the study approximates that a six-year-old in 2020 will experience twice as many wildfires and tropical cyclones, three times more river floods, four times more crop failures, five times more droughts and 36 times more heat waves compared to someone born in the 1960s.
Under a 3 C global warming simulation, children under the age of eight will face an “almost five-fold” increase in extreme weather even exposure, the study says.
The study also analyzed which global regions will see the biggest increase in exposure to extreme climate events, with a “particularly strong” increase in the Middle East and North Africa, with at least seven times higher exposure on average for all generations younger than 25 in 2020 under current emission reduction pledges.
The study says its findings “highlight the strong benefits” of countries following the Paris Agreement emission targets to “safeguard the future of current younger generations.”
Even if your genetics put you at greater risk for early death, a healthy lifestyle could help you significantly combat it, according to a new study.
Knowing what to have at home, or take with you for an evacuation, can be useful and even life-saving.
The BC NDP have tabled legislation aimed at stopping people who have committed certain heinous acts from changing their names.
Ellen DeGeneres is reflecting on how her talk show came to an end in her newest Netflix special, 'Ellen's Last Stand ... Up Tour.'
Colorado Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin was suspended for at least six months without pay and placed in Stage 3 of the league's player assistance program.
New research out of London, Ont.'s Western University is shedding light on a potential cure for ALS, in which the targeting of the interaction between two proteins can halt or fully reverse the disease's progression.
Police have released a three-dimensional image of a young child whose remains were discovered in the Grand River in Dunnville, Ont. almost two years ago.
Edwin Mostered spent thousands of dollars booking a vacation home in Whistler, B.C., for a group skiing trip earlier this year – or so he thought.
U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris used a profanity on Monday while offering advice to young Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders about how to break through barriers.
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.
YES Theatre Young Company opened its acclaimed kids’ show, One Small Step, at Sudbury Theatre Centre on Saturday.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'