CARBON FOOTPRINTS & GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE IN RELATIONSHIP TO PUBLIC HEALTH & LOCAL ECONOMIC EFFECTS

Abstract

Carbon footprints of individuals and organizations around the globe are fueling the current climate change trend leading to enormous negative effects on human health and the economy. The carbon generated by humans and their activities are heating the earth unsustainable and the evidence is well established in the literature. The impacts of human carbon footprints induced climate change on health and the economy are been published widely in the literature. This review succinctly x-rayed the impact of human carbon footprints on public health and the economy within the African context. The relationship between carbon footprint and public health was conceptualized as continuous cyclic interaction, continuously bringing woes to mankind. Carbon footprint impact on public health was presented to be in two ways – directly or indirectly. The direct impact of carbon footprints on public health was explored under five (5) thematic areas,  which are: impact on extreme weather events (hurricanes, storms, and floods), impacts on temperature, impacts to air pollution, impacts to water- and foodborne diseases,   and impacts to vector and rodent-borne diseases. The impact of a carbon footprint on the economy was seen as an indirect impact on humans and a huge change in human lives. It is recommended that carbon footprints should be calculated at every level individual, organization, process, product, national and continental; to drive accountability to the environment by all and for all