Climate Change and Human Health (ATOC 6020)
Fall 2016: Climate Change and Human Health
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Overview: Under the auspices of the newly formed 91ÃÛÌÒ¸ó Consortium on Climate Change and Health (), we will explore connections between climate change and human health by reading and discussing peer–reviewed literature on this transdisciplinary subject. We will read a selection of recent papers from five categories of climate/health connections listed below. This fall, the Colorado School of Public Health (SPH) is also offering a new Masters of Public Health (MPH) course on the same subject; interactions and collaborative activities between the two classes are planned. Over the course of the semester, we will also hear from leading researchers across the 91ÃÛÌÒ¸ó and Anschutz campuses. We will push ourselves to read, listen and think well outside of our disciplinary comfort zones.
- Heat related problems (heat wave mortality and dehydration/CKD)
- Bacterial infections (Vibrio)
- Air quality related problems (PM and ozone)
- Vector–borne diseases (Malaria)
- Psychologically driven health consequences (violent crime)
Prerequisites: Permission of instructor. Also open to interested postdocs.
Credit: Graduate: one credit; may be repeated. Undergraduate: up to three credits (as ATOC 4900).
Meetings: Mondays, 2:00–3:00 PM, SEEC N232. No class 9/5, 9/19, 9/26, or 11/21.
Textbook: None. See reading list below.
Grading: 100% of the student grade will be based on effort and active participation.
Guest speakers
Oct. 17        Dr. Colleen Reed                 CU 91ÃÛÌÒ¸ó                 Air quality, wildfires
Oct. 24        Dr. Rosemary Rochford        CU SoM/CO SPH        Malaria
Oct. 31        Dr. Kathy James                   CU SoM/CO SPH        Access to clean drinking water
Nov. 7         Dr. Elizabeth Carlton             CO SPH                      Diarrheal diseases
Nov. 14       Dr. Balaji Rajagopalan          CU 91ÃÛÌÒ¸ó                 Meningitis in West Africa
Nov. 28       Dr. Richard Johnson             CU SoM                     Chronic kidney disease
Reading list
[0a] The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment, U.S. Global Change 91ÃÛÌÒ¸ó Program (2016)—Executive Summary
https://health2016.globalchange.gov/downloads
[0b] Human Health: Impacts, Adaptation, and Co-Benefits, IPCC AR5 WG2 Ch. 11 (2014)—Executive Summary and sections 11.1.1, 11.2, 11.3, 11.4.1, 11.4.3, 11.5, 11.6.2, 11.8, 11.1
http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg2/
[1a] Attributing human mortality during extreme heat waves to anthropogenic climate change, Environmental 91ÃÛÌÒ¸ó Letters (2016)
http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/11/7/074006
http://environmentalresearchweb.org/cws/article/news/65523
[1b] Climate Change and the Emergent Epidemic of CKD from Heat Stress in Rural Communities: The Case for Heat Stress Nephropathy, Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (2016)
http://cjasn.asnjournals.org/content/early/2016/05/04/CJN.13841215
http://cires.colorado.edu/news/climate-change%E2%80%99s-likely-role-kidney-disease-epidemics
[2] Climate influence on Vibrio and associated human diseases during the past half-century in the coastal North Atlantic, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2016)
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/08/02/1609157113
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/08/08/were-trashing-the-oceans-and-making-ourselves-sick-in-the-process/
[3a] Occurrence and persistence of future atmospheric stagnation events, Nature Climate Change (2014)
http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v4/n8/full/nclimate2272.html
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/stagnation-air-conditions-on-the-rise-20600
[3b] Particulate air pollution from wildfires in the Western US under climate change, Climatic Change (2016)
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-016-1762-6
http://news.yale.edu/2016/08/15/health-risks-wildfires-us-west-increase-under-climate-change
[4] Altitudinal Changes in Malaria Incidence in Highlands of Ethiopia and Colombia, Science (2014)
http://science.sciencemag.org/node/496659.full
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-03/uom-wtp030414.php
[5] Crime, weather, and climate change, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management (2014)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0095069613001289
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/10/22/the-surprisingly-strong-link-between-climate-change-and-violence/
Additional papers and resources
Global Climate Change and Human Health: From Science to Practice, Wiley (2015)
http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1118505573.html
Heat Stress Nephropathy From Exercise-Induced Uric Acid Crystalluria: A Perspective on Mesoamerican Nephropathy, American Journal of Kidney Diseases (2016)
http://www.ajkd.org/article/S0272-6386(15)01156-7/abstract
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151008142416.htm
CKD in Central America: A Hot Issue, American Journal of Kidney Diseases (2012)
http://www.ajkd.org/article/S0272-6386(12)00029-7/fulltext
Climate change, workplace heat exposure, and occupational health and productivity in Central America, International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health (2011)
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/107735211799041931?journalCode=yjoh20
Future Freshwater Stress for Island Populations, Nature Climate Change (2016)
http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v6/n7/full/nclimate2987.html
http://cires.colorado.edu/news/islands-face-drier-future
Human contribution to the European heatwave of 2003, Nature (2004)
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v432/n7017/full/nature03089.html
https://www.carbonbrief.org/study-links-heatwave-deaths-london-paris-climate-change
Dramatically increasing chance of extremely hot summers since the 2003 European heatwave, Nature Climate Change (2015)
http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v5/n1/full/nclimate2468.html
http://www.carbonbrief.org/european-summer-heatwaves-ten-times-more-likely-with-climate-change
El Niño and climate change—contributing factors in the dispersal of Zika virus in the Americas? The Lancet (2016)
http://thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(16)00256-7/fulltext
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/scientists-tease-out-climate-role-zika-spread-20582
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/zika-virus-climate-change-19970
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/will-la-nina-affect-the-spread-of-zika-/
Dengue Vector Dynamics (Aedes aegypti) Influenced by Climate and Social Factors in Ecuador: Implications for Targeted Control, PLoS One (2013)
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0078263
Spatiotemporal clustering, climate periodicity, and social-ecological risk factors for dengue during an outbreak in Machala, Ecuador, in 2010, BMC Infectious Diseases (2014)
http://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12879-014-0610-4
Warming increases the risk of civil war in Africa, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2009)
http://www.pnas.org/content/106/49/20670.abstract
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2009/november23/climate-civil-wars-112309.html
North Atlantic salinity as a predictor of Sahel rainfall, Science Advances (2016)
http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/5/e1501588
https://www.whoi.edu/news-release/sahel-rainfall