Op-ed on Climate Change Costs
Addressing Climate Change is Economic Common Sense By Mitchell Singstock, Medical Student at University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
The tragic floods in Kentucky are a devastating example of how climate change will continue to affect our region.
It's time to look at climate change for what it is: an economic disruptor and a health crisis. A recent report from the Ohio Environmental Coalition has estimated that climate change will cost Ohio between 1.8 billion and $5.9 billion every year by the middle of this century. These costs come in the form of increased air conditioning for hotter cities, repairing roads and power lines damaged by storms, and protecting our drinking water from floods, among others.
In Cincinnati, the price of air conditioning to protect some of our most vulnerable urban residents alone would cost between 7.1 million and 35 million a year. These costs are locked in, but they will grow if we choose not to strengthen our infrastructure to withstand a changing climate.
Many of the solutions are common sense.
More trees protect our city from heat, create cleaner air, and make our city more livable. Wind and solar are low cost ways to adapt to our city’s increased energy needs without further polluting our air and water.
Our choice is simple: invest now with efforts like the Green Cincinnati Plan and save lives or invest later and suffer the consequences.
Mitchell Singstock is a Medical Student at University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.