Posted on 27 January 2018 by John Hartz

Editor's Pick

Why climate change is worsening public health problems

 Men in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, collect water on Nov. 11, 2017. Years after Hurricane Matthew nearly devastated Haiti, its vulnerability only increases. Reuters/Martinez Casares

Around the world, the health care debate often revolves around access.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, recently announced: “All roads lead to universal health coverage.” Discussions for how to translate this vision into a road map for action is central to the agenda of the WHO’s executive board meeting this week in Geneva.

Yet focusing on access is not enough. The imperative for access must be paired with a frank acknowledgment that climate change is making communities around the world more vulnerable to ill health. A 2017 commission of The Lancet, a leading health research journal, tracked the effects of climate change on health and found evidence of harms “far worse that previously understood.”

Even as we move to close the access gap, a string of natural disasters in late 2017, including successive hurricanes and widespread forest fires, threaten to widen the vulnerability gap.

As a global health professional (Sosin) and a cultural anthropologist (Kivland), we have witnessed how the global exchange of health technology, expertise and aid has contributed to dramatic gains in the delivery of health care in Haiti and other settings, especially around infectious diseases. Yet climate change threatens to undermine the health gains in vulnerable communities across the globe.

As firsthand witnesses to sharp health disparities globally, we argue that world leaders need to insist that any health care strategy must address the social and environmental vulnerabilities driving poor health in the first place.

Why climate change is worsening public health problems by Chelsey Kivland & Anne Sosin, The Conversation US, Jan 25, 2018

Links posted on Facebook

Sun Jan 21, 2018

• How climate change is driving extreme heatwaves by Michael Lucy, Cosmos, Jan 19, 2018
• 'Significant' heatwave roasts south-eastern Australia as global records melt by Peter Hannam, Sydney Morning Herald, Jan 19, 2018
• There’s No Excuse For Not Getting a Woman Scientist's Input Anymore by Brian Kahn, Earther, Jan 18, 2018
• Science in limbo as US government shuts down by Lauren Morello, Giorgia Guglielmi, Heidi Ledford, Sara Reardon, Jeff Tollefson & Alexandra Witze, Nature, Jan 20, 2018
• Trump Administration Undermines Independent Science Advice, Press Release, Union of Concerned Scientists, Jan 18, 2018
• WMO confirms 2017 among the three warmest years on record, WMO Press Release, Jan 18, 2018
• Great Barrier Reef coral bleaching has started early, biologist says by Michael Slezak, Environment, Guardian, Jan 19, 2019
• Why clouds hold the key to better climate models, Guest Post by Ellie Highwood, Carbon Brief, Jan 18, 2018

Mon Jan 22, 2018

• Climate Denial Group With Trump Admin Ties Is Funding Sea Level Research in Questionable Journals by Graham Readfearn, DeSmog, Jan 18, 2018
• Massive Storms Can Change the Shape of the Planet by Brian Kahn, Earther. Jan 18, 2018
• Explainer: What climate models tell us about future rainfall by Zeke Hausfather, Carbon Brief, Jan 21, 2018
• Insurers say Canadian weather getting hotter, wetter and weirder by Bob Weber, National Observer, Jan 21, 2018
• Switching to electric cars is key to fixing America's 'critically insufficient' climate policies by Dana Nuccitelli, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian, Jan 22, 2018
• New Silencing Science Tracker Launched by The Sabin Center and Climate Science Legal Defense Fund by Romany Webb, Climate Law Blog, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Jan 19, 2018
• Lloyd's of London to divest from coal over climate change by Julia Kollewe, Environment, Guardian, Jan 21, 2018
• This big new idea for stopping climate change would cause even bigger problems, scientists say by Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Jan 22, 2018

Tue Jan 23, 2018

• How engineering earth’s climate could seriously imperil life by Matt Simon, Science, Wired, Jan 22, 2018
• Climate change and snowmelt—turn up the heat, but what about humidity?, Phys.org, Jan 22, 2018
• On the Chesapeake, A Precarious Future of Rising Seas and High Tides by Tom Horton, Yale Environment 360, Jan 22, 2018
• Trump's Solar Tariffs Mark Biggest Blow to Renewables Yet by Brian Eckhouse, Ari Natter & Chris Martin, Bloomberg News, Jan 22, 2018
• 2018 could see wave of West Coast climate pollution pricing by Gregory Scruggs, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Jan 17, 2018
• When Will Science Get Its #Metoo Moment?, Opinion by Sarah E Myhre, Newsweek, Jan 23, 2018
• Fighting Climate Change? We’re Not Even Landing a Punch by Eduardo Porter, New York Times, Jan 23, 2018
• The claim of reduced uncertainty for equilibrium climate sensitivity is premature by Rasmus Benestad, Real Climate, Jan 21, 2018

Wed Jan 24, 2018

• Survey Results Show Christians Becoming Less Concerned About the Environment, Newswise, Jan 23, 2018
• Ask the Expert: Does Rising CO₂Benefit Plants? by Anne Sneed, Scientific American, Jan 23, 2018
• The trouble with Trump leaving climate change to the military by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, Jan 23, 2018
• Storm waves moved this 620-ton boulder, scientists say — a stunning testament to the ocean’s power by Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Jan 23, 2018
• Another East Bay city sues oil companies over climate change by Denis Cuff, East Bay News, Jan 22, 2018
• Bigger, Faster Avalanches,Triggered by Climate Change by Kendra Pierre-Louis, Climate, New York Times, Jan 23, 2018
• Global temperature targets will be missed within decades unless carbon emissions reversed, News, University of Southampton, Jan 22, 2018
• Climate change: is the glass half full or half empty? by Feike Sybesma, World Economic Forum, Jan 24, 2018

Thu Jan 25, 2018

• Angela Merkel at Davos: we need global cooperation, not walls by Ceri Parker, World Economic Fourm (WEF), Jan 24, 2018
• The enduring appeal of conspiracy theories, by Melissa Hogenboom, future, BBC News, Jan 24, 2018
• That Sinking Feeling by Gaby Galvin, Best Country, U.S. News & World Report, Jan 24, 2017
• Macron’s climate charm offensive continues with Davos Trump jibe by Megan Darby, Climate Home, Jan 24, 2018
• In less than 3 months, a major international city will likely run out of water by Paul P. Murphy, CNN, Jam 24, 2018
• AI Could Find Homes for Millions of Refugees Displaced by Climate Change by Kyree Leary, Futurism, Jan 23, 2018
• Trump Officials, Energy Execs Speak Together at Conference Sponsored by Climate Denier Groups by Itai Vardi, DeSmog, Jan 25, 2018
• Weather.com devoted its entire site to climate change today. Here’s why. by Angela Fritz, Capital Weather Gang, Washington Post, Jan 25, 2018

Fri Jan 26, 2018

• A volcano in the Philippines is threatening a major eruption by Umair Irfan, Science & Health, Vox, Jan 25, 2018
• Davos 2018: climate change rhetoric and reality by Megan Darby & Karl Mathiesen, Climate Home, Jan 23, 2018
• Macron at Davos: I will shut all coal-fired power stations by 2021 by Ceri Parker, World Economic Forum (WEF), Jan 24, 2018
• Davos Lauds China’s Climate Efforts Even as Emissions Rise by Keith Bradsher & Lisa Friedman, Business Day, New York Times, Jan 25, 2018
• EPA ends clean air policy opposed by fossil fuel interests, by Michael Biesecker, AP News, Jan 25, 2018
• Trump Promised to Ignore Climate Change But Have Clean Air. He Lied. by Jonathan Chait, Daily Intelligencer, New York Magazine, Jan 26, 2018
• At Davos, bosses paint climate change as $7 trillion opportunity by Alex Whiting, Sydney Morning Herald, Jan 26, 2018
• Hurricane Center: Harvey’s ‘overwhelming’ rains were likely nation’s most extreme ever by Jason Samenow, Capital Weather Gang, Washington Post, Jan 25, 2018

Sat Jan 27, 2018

• Overlooked Tiny Air Pollutants Can Have Major Climate Impact by Sabrina Shankman, InsideClimate News, Jan 25, 2018
• Why climate change is worsening public health problems by Chelsey Kivland & Anne Sosin, The Conversation US, Jan 25, 2018
• The Mercers, Trump’s Billionaire Megadonors, Ramp Up Climate Change Denial Funding by Alexander C. Kaufman, HuffPost, Jan 25, 2018
• In 2017, the oceans were by far the hottest ever recorded by John Abraham, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian, Jan 26, 2018
• Climate change and deforestation threaten world’s largest tropical peatland by Daisy Dunne, Carbon Brief, Jan 25, 2018
• Weather from the Ground Up: How Biodiversity Can Help Shape Local Climate by Adam Sacks, Category 6, Weather Underground, Jan 23, 2018
• Reckoning with climate change will demand ugly tradeoffs from environmentalists — and everyone else by David Roberts, Energy & Environmnet, Vox, Jan 27, 2018
• AP FACT CHECK: Data melt Trump’s cooling, ice claims by Seth Borenstein, AP News, Jan 26, 2018