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Issues: Global Warming

How Global Warming Will Affect Floridians
A photo essay exploring the consequences of climate change for Florida residents, businesses and visitors.

If you're a parent . . . stay alert. Global warming threatens your child's health.

Photo: Children and parents will be affected by global warming.

Medically speaking, children are not just little adults. Their bodies are more susceptible to a variety of illnesses and conditions because they are not as well equipped to defend themselves from disease. So, if you're the parent of a young child, you'll want to know that global warming could pose a health threat for your youngster.

Children are particularly vulnerable to heat stress, in all its forms -- dehydration, heat exhaustion and even heatstroke. The most serious of these conditions is heatstroke, during which the body's core temperature rises above 105° Fahrenheit, resulting in confusion, stupor, and, in some cases, death. So as global warming drives Florida's already high temperatures even higher, children will be at greater risk.

Young children also have more difficulty dealing with air pollution, which may be aggravated by global warming as warmer air temperatures promote smog formation. Children are also threatened by water-borne diseases, which are likely to thrive as global warming causes water temperatures to rise.