If you have kidney stones you can blame global warming? Sounds pretty crazy to me, but Dallas scientists are saying the warmer temperatures caused by global warming will cause people to sweat more and not drink enough water (many people already don’t drink enough water and I have to admit I’m one of them) and will therefore develop more kidney stones.

The scientists says that cases of kidney stones could raise by 30 percent, or even more than that in some areas of the United States if global warming predictions are accurate.

According to University of Texas at Dallas professor of geosciences Tom Brikowski, “This is really the first direct human impact of climate change that has been demonstrated.”

I’m not saying the study should be taken lightly since I’m sure a lot of time went into it, but it does take some things for granted, such as global warming actually occuring as predicted which I certainly hope doesn’t happen. I’d like to think we as humans are smart enough to see the negative ramifications of not trying to do something to stop global warming (not everyone is even certain that global warming is really occurring and instead think it is just a natural ebb and flow of the earth and is nothing to be concerned about).

Plus it assumes that people will continue to be stupid and not drink enough water to keep their bodies hydrated (maybe that’s not such a big assumption - many of us have proven we aren’t going to drink enough water to stay hydrated even though we know we should).

As far as the global warming fact or fiction controversy goes, I happen to be one of the people that thinks global warming is real and that it is the earth’s way of saying “okay you’ve treated me pretty crappy for quite some time now by spewing poisons into the atmosphere and piggishly and selfishly taken what you’ve wanted from the land and sea without any thought to the ramifications so I’m going to make you pay attention.”

But I also think that instead of taking the study too literally and saying kidney stone rates will rise, we should instead use the knowledge to avoid it. It’s like the saying, “forewarned is forarmed.” When you know something can or will happen you can take steps to not get caught in its trap.

If nothing else, you can use this news as a fun ice breaker at parties (at least if you think talking about medical issues such as kidney stones is fun). People will probably pay attention when you say “global warming is causing more kidney stones.” They may look at you like you’ve lost your mind but at least you’ll have their attention (and any kid can tell you that attention - good or bad - is always desirable). Then if you choose you can logically explain how global warming really could contribute to increased kidney stone rates or you could just change the subject and regale the captive audience with the topic you really wanted to discuss instead.