Global Warming

Global warming is actively killing the environment, tourism industry, and a half million people per year. Throughout Europe and popular island tourist destinations, countries in the Mediterranean, and semi-arid to arid climates have been experiencing a combination of both extreme heat and beach erosion. Soon global warming will impact everyone on earth, regardless of whether they are vacationers or residents. 

Throughout hotter regions of the world, health organizations are recording dramatic increases in deaths as a result of heat stroke/heat exhaustion, with Ben Fulgencio-Turner, director of the Climate for Health program at ecoAmerica, stating that, “Extreme heat kills more people in the U.S. each year than all other extreme weather events combined — and disproportionately affects vulnerable communities." Additionally, throughout the world, death from the heat is the leading cause of weather related deaths. Heat exhaustion may cause symptoms similar to the flu, but heat stroke is more extreme, as it causes a full shutdown of the central nervous system and all of the body’s organs.

On the other hand, climate scientists predict that half of the world’s beaches may be gone by 2100. As sea levels rise and human development negatively affects natural waterways, beaches erode and cannot be naturally replenished. Conservative estimations include tens of thousands of beach areas in the US, Australia, Canada, Mexico, China and Russia being lost, which impacts biodiversity and tourism. Combining the risk of heat related illness and the erosion of beaches, tourism companies note that more vacationers are going to cooler areas, specifically Scandinavian countries, and fewer people are going to the Mediterranean. Additionally, both tourism companies and vacationers are rescheduling events around the increased temperatures. Overall, climate change is currently affecting where people go for vacation and the physical landscape of the Earth. (BBC News, PBS, APHA)