Boy, and you were worried about the imminent destruction of our coastal cities, giant hurricanes, food shortages, and the cost of beer skyrocketing because of global warming? Last Monday the AFP reported on a study showing that Global Warming would increase suffering from Kidney Stones.  Now, I understand Kidney Stones are miserable. But I also find this reporting fascinating in the context of pop culture stories on global warming and the many tiny effects it will have. These stories don’t generally seem to connect the kidney stones and expensive beer to the larger societal problems we will have, nor do they seem to mention that the worst impacts of Climate Change are preventable, or that people might want to begin taking action to stop them.  Shouldn’t this article have a quote like, “If you don’t stop driving Hummers and building coal plants, don’t call me crying when you’re up all night trying to pee,” said climate activist so and so…

Not that I’m saying anyone would ever be so sanctimonious. Being right and saying, “I told you so” just isn’t fun when thousands and even billions are suffering and dying.

The point is, this is presented as a simple mundane fact, unconnected to the larger climate change issues.

Another point the article makes is that it will cost as much as $1 billion to treat these new kidney stone cases.  Maybe we should begin mentioning that and similar arguments when promoting renewables and arguing their cost effectiveness — “Think of the billions you could save the US economy from not having to treat kidney stones! And also preventing the cost of re-locating billions of climate refugees world wide…”

I for one am not looking forward to a world full of turmoil, strife and painful urination. Let’s do what it takes to stop global warming, if not for sake of the kids, then for the sake of our bladders.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - More Americans are likely to suffer from kidney stones in the coming years as a result of global warming, according to researchers at the University of Texas.

Kidney stones, which are formed from dissolved minerals in the urine and can be extremely painful, are often caused by caused by dehydration, either by not drinking enough liquid or losing too much due to high heat conditions.

If global warming trends continue as projected by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007, the United States can expect as much as a 30 percent growth in kidney stone disease in some of its driest areas, said the findings published in Monday’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The increased incidence of disease would represent between 1.6 million and 2.2 million cases by 2050, costing the US economy as much as one billion dollars in treatment costs.

“This study is one of the first examples of global warming causing a direct medical consequence for humans,” said Margaret Pearle, professor of urology at University of Texas Southwestern and senior author of the paper.

“When people relocate from areas of moderate temperature to areas with warmer climates, a rapid increase in stone risk has been observed. This has been shown in military deployments to the Middle East for instance.”

The lead author of the research, Tom Brikowski, compared kidney stone rates with UN forecasts of temperature increases and created two mathematical models to predict the impact on future populations.

One formula showed an increase in the southern half of the country, including the already existing “kidney stone belt” of the southeastern states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

The other showed that the increase would be concentrated in the upper Midwest.

“Similar climate-related changes in the prevalence of kidney-stone disease can be expected in other stone belts worldwide,” the study said.