With Planet Earth running a fever, U.N. climate talks have turned their focus on contagious effects on human health. Under a brown haze over Dubai, participants at the COP28 summit moved beyond lofty rhetoric and calls for unity to curb global warming to concerns like the deaths of at least 7 million people globally from air pollution each year and the spread of diseases like cholera and malaria as global warming upends weather systems. In the background and off-stage — participants were also turning attention to tough negotiations over the next nine days to push for more agreement on ways to cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times.
