The Unexpected effects.
With climate change comes the effects that were very familiar with, including rising sea levels, increasing temperatures, surging acidity of our oceans, decreasing biodiversity. Our planet is huge, so what else is resulting from climate change?
The Brain Effect.
This may be surprising to you, but it’s true. A study from the American Psychological Association and ecoAmerica showed that anxiety, depression, shock, grief, and post-traumatic stress disorder were associated with climate change-related disasters. Another study on flood survivors showed panic attacks, insomnia, low motivation, and obsessive behavior were all symptoms long after the natural disaster happened.
It’s clear that with climate change comes an increase in natural disasters like these, which leads to more of the psychological effects mentioned. People that are exposed to the gradual effects of climate change- increased air pollution, the proliferation of disease, and food insecurity, are also at risk for a plethora of psychological conditions.
According to the American Psychological Association, “high levels of air pollutions may damage children’s cognitive abilities, increase adults’ risk of cognitive decline, and possibly even contribute to depression." With increasing heat also comes both physical and mental health problems for people with mental illnesses, raising the risk of death.
 Image by Intricate Explorer |  Image by Jeremy Bishop |  Image by Jessica Fadel |
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 Image by Chris Lejarazu |  Image by pine watt |  Image by Ken Cheung |
 Image by Bailey Zindel |  Image by Boris Smokrovic |  Image by Jan Meeus |
 Image by Zdeněk Macháček |  Image by Joseph Barrientos |  Image by Matt Hardy |
 Image by Christoffer Engström |
Bacteria-induced Deserts.
In the crusts of vast deserts of the world lay billions of bacteria, silently regulating our weather. But they are often overlooked in policy development in governments around the world, and that means most people don’t know about what they do for our planet.
Crusts and the microbes that live in them play an indispensable role in the health of arid lands. The bacteria also form into thick, strong layers of bio-crust that protect the land from erosion and help the soil acquire more nutrients. In a study from Arizona State University, scientists predicted that in 50 years, temperature changes may cause particular microbes that live in the crusts of the colder US desert to be driven out.
Researchers in the study aren’t able to determine what this will mean for the ecosystem that surrounds the bacteria. That brings about a lot of uncertainty in the scientific community and raises questions about what it will mean for the planet as a whole. It is clear, however, that the replacement of current desert bacteria can have consequential ripple effects, such as desertification.
Decreasing Oxygen in our Oceans.
Our planet has seven vast seas, all holding expansive amounts of carbon from the atmosphere, in fact, they hold 38,000 gigatons of it. That amount of carbon is increasing, but the opposite is happening with oxygen in parts of the ocean. These zones, which are commonly found at depths of 200 – 1000 meters are steadily increasing in size due to human activities.
Low oxygen concentration is occurring partly because warmer waters hold less dissolved oxygen than cold waters. And because deeper waters are increasing in temperatures, those parts of the ocean may suffer from low oxygen as well.
As the climate becomes warmer, the temperature contrasts between surface water will increase when compared to deeper waters, causing stratification to intensify. Because cool and warm waters don’t mix well, oxygen circulation between water columns will decrease, putting a chokehold on deep ocean waters and even middle layers.
Decreasing oxygen concentrations have some clear and obvious consequences for ocean life. It’ll likely affect the diversity of distinctive species and depending on the level of deoxidation and increasing temperatures, it could cause a reduction in their survival, growth, and reproduction. An impact on ocean life is an impact on the billions that need it for sustenance, therefore, it’s necessary for us to take action to curb the expansion of these zones.
