Heat may kill hundreds of New Yorkers

[jpak]

http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSPAR96706420071010

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The number of heat-related deaths in and around New York City will nearly double by 2050 - and could rise as high as 95 percent -- due to global warming, if no efforts are made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a new study shows.

"All kinds of households in the region might want to think about what global warming and greenhouse gas emissions might mean for their quality of life in the not-too-distant future," Dr. Kim Knowlton of Columbia University in New York City, the study's lead author, told Reuters Health.

By taking steps now to cut emissions, New Yorkers could prevent 300 of these expected deaths annually, Knowlton says. "We can save lives by taking progressive action now to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. That's the good news."

Knowlton and her colleagues used a computer model to estimate temperature increases in New York City and its environs by 2050 based on two scenarios, one representing rapid population growth and lack of "aggressive" greenhouse regulation, the other based on slower growth and "increased concerns about environmental sustainability."

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[MADem]

1. That's if they aren't underwater by then.

They've got forty years or so to think about moving...assuming nothing is done about the problem.