Climate Change

The planet is warming. The oceans are becoming more acidic. Storms will become more frequent and more extreme. Climate change is upon us and is predicted to have dire consequences.

• Think hotter and drier -- more wildfires, worse air quality

• Both plants and vectors (like mosquitoes) are expected to shift their habitats northward. Less cold will mean they won't die off in winter.

• Oceans will warm (ice melting, sea level rise) and acidify (less shellfish)

• Hurricanes will become more frequent and severe (flooding, disaster response)

These are just a few of the impacts we're expecting from human-induced climate change. Learn more about climate change below and what we need to do in order to slow it.

Read:

• Frumkin, Chapter 12, Climate Change and Human Health, starting on page 275

Watch:

• Climate change 101 with Bill Nye. National Geographic (4 min)

We have limited time to make a difference. How do we communicate urgency? See how using art installations can impact change around the world.

Learn more at https://climateclock.world/

• Climate and Health Assessment. From U.S. Global Change Research Program. https://health2016.globalchange.gov/downloads

• Detailed chapters that are freely available on human health, temperature-related death & illness, air quality, extreme events, vector-borne disease, water-related illness, food safety & nutrition, and mental health. Also describes populations of concern.

• Amazing resource for considering social determinants of health stemming from climate change.

• The mental health chapter is particularly moving. Displacements are likely to occur. Food insecurity is likely to occur. Think upstream.

Learn more at Globalchange.gov