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"Epstein, Paul R"
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Changing planet, changing health : how the climate crisis threatens our health and what we can do about it
\"Climate change is now doing far more harm than marooning polar bears on melting chunks of ice--it is damaging the health of people around the world. Brilliantly connecting stories of real people with cutting-edge scientific and medical information, Changing planet, changing health brings us to places like Mozambique, Honduras, and the United States for an eye-opening on-the-ground investigation of how climate change is altering patterns of disease. Written by a physician and world expert on climate and health and an award-winning science journalist, the book reveals the surprising links between global warming and cholera, malaria, lyme disease, asthma, and other health threats. In clear, accessible language, it also discusses topics including Climategate, cap-and-trade proposals, and the relationship between free markets and the climate crisis. Most importantly, Changing planet, changing health delivers a suite of innovative solutions for shaping a healthy global economic order in the twenty-first century\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Novel ecosystems: theoretical and management aspects of the new ecological world order
We explore the issues relevant to those types of ecosystems containing new combinations of species that arise through human action, environmental change, and the impacts of the deliberate and inadvertent introduction of species from other regions. Novel ecosystems (also termed 'emerging ecosystems) result when species occur in combinations and relative abundances that have not occurred previously within a given biome. Key characteristics are novelty, in the form of new species combinations and the potential for changes in ecosystem functioning, and human agency, in that these ecosystems are the result of deliberate or inadvertent human action. As more of the Earth becomes transformed by human actions, novel ecosystems increase in importance, but are relatively little studied. Either the degradation or invasion of native or 'wild' ecosystems or the abandonment of intensively managed systems can result in the formation of these novel systems. Important considerations are whether these new systems are persistent and what values they may have. It is likely that it may be very difficult or costly to return such systems to their previous state, and hence consideration needs to be given to developing appropriate management goals and approaches.
Journal Article
Policies for accelerating access to clean energy, improving health, advancing development, and mitigating climate change
The absence of reliable access to clean energy and the services it provides imposes a large disease burden on low-income populations and impedes prospects for development. Furthermore, current patterns of fossil-fuel use cause substantial ill-health from air pollution and occupational hazards. Impending climate change, mainly driven by energy use, now also threatens health. Policies to promote access to non-polluting and sustainable sources of energy have great potential both to improve public health and to mitigate (prevent) climate disruption. There are several technological options, policy levers, and economic instruments for sectors such as power generation, transport, agriculture, and the built environment. However, barriers to change include vested interests, political inertia, inability to take meaningful action, profound global inequalities, weak technology-transfer mechanisms, and knowledge gaps that must be addressed to transform global markets. The need for policies that prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate while addressing the energy needs of disadvantaged people is a central challenge of the current era. A comprehensive programme for clean energy should optimise mitigation and, simultaneously, adaption to climate change while maximising co-benefits for health—eg, through improved air, water, and food quality. Intersectoral research and concerted action, both nationally and internationally, will be required.
Journal Article
Changing planet, changing health
Climate change is now doing far more harm than marooning polar bears on melting chunks of ice—it is damaging the health of people around the world. Brilliantly connecting stories of real people with cutting-edge scientific and medical information, Changing Planet, Changing Health brings us to places like Mozambique, Honduras, and the United States for an eye-opening on-the-ground investigation of how climate change is altering patterns of disease. Written by a physician and world expert on climate and health and an award-winning science journalist, the book reveals the surprising links between global warming and cholera, malaria, lyme disease, asthma, and other health threats. In clear, accessible language, it also discusses topics including Climategate, cap-and-trade proposals, and the relationship between free markets and the climate crisis. Most importantly, Changing Planet, Changing Health delivers a suite of innovative solutions for shaping a healthy global economic order in the twenty-first century.
eBook
Climate Change and Human Health
Extreme weather events reflect massive and ongoing changes in our climate to which biologic systems on all continents are reacting. Dr. Paul Epstein writes about some of the health effects that may lie ahead if the increase in very extreme weather events continues.
In 1998, Hurricane Mitch dropped six feet of rain on Central America in three days. In its wake, the incidence of malaria, dengue fever, cholera, and leptospirosis soared. In 2000, rain and three cyclones inundated Mozambique for six weeks, and the incidence of malaria rose fivefold. In 2003, a summer heat wave in Europe killed tens of thousands of people, wilted crops, set forests ablaze, and melted 10 percent of the Alpine glacial mass.
This summer's blistering heat wave was unprecedented with regard to intensity, duration, and geographic extent. More than 200 U.S. cities registered new record high temperatures. In . . .
Journal Article
Energy and health 6 policies for accelerating access to clean energy, improving health, advancing development, and mitigating climate change
The absence of reliable access to clean energy and the services it provides imposes a large disease burden on low-income populations and impedes prospects for development. Furthermore, current patterns of fossil-fuel use cause substantial ill-health from air pollution and occupational hazards. Impending climate change, mainly driven by energy use, now also threatens health. Policies to promote access to non-polluting and sustainable sources of energy have great potential both to improve public health and to mitigate (prevent) climate disruption. There are several technological options, policy levers, and economic instruments for sectors such as power generation, transport, agriculture, and the built environment. However, barriers to change include vested interests, political inertia, inability to take meaningful action, profound global inequalities, weak technology-transfer mechanisms, and knowledge gaps that must be addressed to transform global markets. The need for policies that prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate while addressing the energy needs of disadvantaged people is a central challenge of the current era. A comprehensive programme for clean energy should optimise mitigation and, simultaneously, adaption to climate change while maximising co-benefits for health-eg, through improved air, water, and food quality. Intersectoral research and concerted action, both nationally and internationally, will be required. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
Journal Article
Rising CO2, Climate Change, and Public Health: Exploring the Links to Plant Biology
Background: Although the issue of anthropogenic climate forcing and public health is widely recognized, one fundamental aspect has remained underappreciated: the impact of climatic change on plant biology and the well-being of human systems. Objectives: We aimed to critically evaluate the extant and probable links between plant function and human health, drawing on the pertinent literature. Discussion: Here we provide a number of critical examples that range over various health concerns related to plant biology and climate change, including aerobiology, contact dermatitis, pharmacology, toxicology, and pesticide use. Conclusions: There are a number of clear links among climate change, plant biology, and public health that remain underappreciated by both plant scientists and health care providers. We demonstrate the importance of such links in our understanding of climate change impacts and provide a list of key questions that will help to integrate plant biology into the current paradigm regarding climate change and human health.
Journal Article
Biological and Physical Signs of Climate Change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that there is “discernible evidence” that humans—through accelerating changes in multiple forcing factors—have begun to alter the earth’s climate regime. Such conclusions are based primarily upon so-called “fingerprint” studies, namely the warming pattern in the midtroposphere in the Southern Hemisphere, the disproportionate rise in nighttime and winter temperatures, and the statistical increase in extreme weather events in many nations. All three aspects of climate change and climate variability have biological implications.
Detection of climate change has also drawn upon data from glacial records that indicate a general retreat of tropical summit glaciers. Here the authors examine biological (plant and insect) data, glacial findings, and temperature records taken at high-elevation, mountainous regions. It is concluded that, at high elevations, the overall trends regarding glaciers, plants, insect range, and shifting isotherms show remarkable internal consistency, and that there is consistency between model projections and the ongoing changes. There are implications for public health as well as for developing an interdisciplinary approach to the detection of climate change.
Journal Article
Interaction of the onset of spring and elevated atmospheric CO2 on ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.) pollen production
Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide is responsible for climate changes that are having widespread effects on biological systems. One of the clearest changes is earlier onset of spring and lengthening of the growing season. We designed the present study to examine the interactive effects of timing of dormancy release of seeds with low and high atmospheric CO2 on biomass, reproduction, and phenology in ragweed plants (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.), which produce highly allergenic pollen. We released ragweed seeds from dormancy at three 15-day intervals and grew plants in climate-controlled glass-houses at either ambient or 700-ppm CO2 concentrations, placing open-top bags over influorescences to capture pollen. Measurements of plant height and weight; inflorescence number, weight, and length; and days to anthesis and anthesis date were made on each plant, and whole-plant pollen productivity was estimated from an allometric-based model. Timing and CO2 interacted to influence pollen production. At ambient CO2 levels, the earlier cohort acquired a greater biomass, a higher average weight per inflorescence, and a larger number of influorescences; flowered earlier; and had 54.8% greater pollen production than did the latest cohort. At high CO2 levels, plants showed greater biomass and reproductive effort compared with those in ambient CO2 but only for later cohorts. In the early cohort, pollen production was similar under ambient and high CO2, but in the middle and late cohorts, high CO2 increased pollen production by 32% and 55%, respectively, compared with ambient CO2 levels. Overall, ragweed pollen production can be expected to increase significantly under predicted future climate conditions.
Journal Article
Human Health Effects of a Changing Global Nitrogen Cycle
Changes to the global nitrogen cycle affect human health well beyond the associated benefits of increased food production. Many intensively fertilized crops become animal feed, helping to create disparities in world food distribution and leading to unbalanced diets, even in wealthy nations. Excessive air- and water-borne nitrogen are linked to respiratory ailments, cardiac disease, and several cancers. Ecological feedbacks to excess nitrogen can inhibit crop growth, increase allergenic pollen production, and potentially affect the dynamics of several vector-borne diseases, including West Nile virus, malaria, and cholera. These and other examples suggest that our increasing production and use of fixed nitrogen poses a growing public health risk.
Journal Article