Environmental Health Impacts

of Global Climate Change

Crispin Pierce, Ph.D.
piercech@uwec.edu
Environmental Public Health Program

Outline
Global Human Environmental Threats
Experiment Challenge
Direct Human Effects
Heat deaths
Adverse weather events
Costs of extreme weather events

Relationship Between Climate Change

and Other Environmental Issues

 Associated Climate Changes and

Surprises
Flooding of Low-Lying Areas
Spread of Waterborne Diseases
Climate Change and Food Production
Effects on Plant and Animal Communities
Phenology
Greening of the North
Coral Bleaching
Species Extinction

Benefits of Stabilizing CO2 Concentrations

Global Human Environmental

Threats
1. Overpopulation
2. Global Climate Change
3. Loss of Biodiversity

Experimental Challenge
A reporter for the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram
contacts you for information on an article
concerning global warming. She asks you the
question, If air and sea temperatures rise, will
the melting of icebergs lead to sea level
increases? What is your response.
Use the materials in front of you (ice cubes, a
graduated cylinder, and a water faucet), how
would you test your answer?

Direct Human Effects

Hotter, Drier Summers and Warmer,
Wetter Winters
Increased Adverse Weather Events
Property and Crop Losses

Quick Quiz

About how many people in Europe died

during the heat wave of 2003?
1. 350
2. 3,500
3. 35,000

Heat is the primary cause of weatherrelated deaths.

Adverse Weather Events

Increased Sea Surface Temperatures and G
reater Hurricane Intensity
(Science 16 September 2005:Vol. 309.
no. 5742, pp. 1844 - 1846)
Net Hurricane Power Dissipation Highly
Correlated with Tropical Sea Surface
Temperature (Nature advance online
publication; published online 31 July 2005
| doi: 10.1038/nature03906)

Costs of Extreme Weather Events

Relationship Between Climate

Change and Other Environmental
Issues
The complex effects of warming of our
atmosphere, water, and soil are very
difficult to measure and predict.
Accumulation of evidence from many
fields, such as chemistry, biology, geology,
and environmental health is essential.
The accumulated evidence provides a
clearer and clearer picture of whats going
on.

Associated Climate Changes

Global sea-level has increased 1-2 mm/yr;
in 100 years a rise in sea level between 3.5
and 34.6 in. (9-88 cm) is expected
Duration of ice cover of rivers and lakes
decreased by 2 weeks in N. Hemisphere
Arctic ice has thinned substantially,
decreased in extent by 10-15%

 Reduced permafrost in polar, sub-polar,

mountainous regions
Growing season lengthened by 1-4 days
in N. Hemisphere
Retreat of continental glaciers on all
continents
Snow cover decreased by 10% (reduced
solar reflection)
Source:IntergovernmentalPanelonClimateChange,2001Report

Since 1979, the size of the summer polar ice cap has shrunk more than 20 percent.
(Illustration from NASA) (http://www.nrdc.org/globalWarming/qthinice.asp)

Climate Surprises
Slowing of the ocean thermohaline
circulation

 Breakoff of the
West Antarctic
Ice Sheet

Flooding of Low-Lying Coastal

Areas

Source: U.S. National Assessment, 2000.

Kennedy Space
Center

Impact of a 1-m
rise in sea level
on low-lying areas

Areas subjected to
Inundation with a 1 m
(~3 ft) rise in sea
level

Miami

Source:
Corell,R.W.,2004:Impactsof
awarmingArctic.Arctic
ClimateImpactAssessment(
www.acia.uaf.edu)Cambridge
UniversityPress
(www.cambridge.org).

Who Will be First Affected?

AOSIS is a coalition of small island and low-lying coastal
countries, including Africa, Caribbean, Indian Ocean,
Mediterranean, Pacific, South China Sea
These countries share risk factors for warming-induced
disasters:

Small physical size

Surrounded by large expanses of ocean
Relative isolation
Limited natural resources
Growing populations
Exposure to damaging natural disasters
Low economic diversification
Limited funds, human resources, skills

 Rising sea levels will cause

Displacement of coastal communities
Disturbance of agricultural activity
Coastal erosion, beach loss, decline in
tourism
Intrusion of sea water into freshwater aquifers

 Other risks faced by AOSIS

More frequent droughts and floods
Water supply contamination

The experience of AOSIS countries is a

microcosm of the global picture

Spread of Waterborne Diseases

Malaria
Dengue Fever
Cholera
Typhoid fever
Hantavirus
Diptheria
Lyme Disease

Evidence: the Caribbean region has experienced a marked

increase in the incidence of dengue and dengue
hemorrhagic fever in the past decade (Caribbean
Epidemiology Centre - CAREC).

Climate Change and Food

The growth of crops depends on many factors,
including temperature, precipitation, soil fertility,
and surrounding land uses.
Extreme weather events (drought, hurricanes,
floods, etc.) are very damaging to crops. The
effects of more gradual affects (e.g., average
temperature increase) are difficult to predict.
Developing countries will be much harder hit
than developed countries, due to limited
agricultural flexibility.

Effects on Plant and Animal

Communities
The effects are difficult to measure, but potentially
dramatic.
Many species inhabit precisely bounded ecological
niches, and so small changes in climate can cause
disruptions in habitat or food availability.
In the past, mobile animals could respond to these
pressures by moving from one place to another. Land
development, however, has constrained and fragmented
ranges and travel routes, making migration much more
difficult.
Loss of key predator or prey species affects the life
cycles of other organisms in the food chain.

Phenology
(Timing of Natural Events)
Evidence of earlier leafing and flowering.

http://www.exploratorium.edu/climate/biosphere/data1.html

Greening of the North

More vegetative growth in the last 20
years.

Ranga B. Myneni
, Department of Geogra
phy, Boston University

Many scientists predict greater

desertification.

Coral Bleaching
Increased sea temperatures
Increased CO2 concentrations:
CO2 CaCO3 H 2 0 2 HCO3 Ca 2

http://www.awi-bremerhaven.de/Carbon/calcif.html

Species Extinction
Extinction of the golden
toad:
Over the past 30 years, the
dry season in the Costa
Ricas cloud forest has
become warmer and drier.
20 out of 50 species of
frogs and toads have
disappeared from a 30square-kilometer study
area
Toucans and other bird
species have shifted their
range to higher altitudes.

Frog extinction in the

Central and South American
tropics

Biological Shifts
Shifts in the ranges of 35 species of nonmigratory butterflies.
Decline in body weight of polar bears, resulting
from early melting of sea ice and lowered food
availability.
Changes in the abundance of winter songbirds
in four Great Plains states
Shifts in Californias tidepools species
Reduction of phytoplankton growth in the Ross
Sea that could disrupt the Antarctic food chain

Stabilizing CO2 Atmospheric Levels

Efficient Transportation
Energy Conservation
Sustainable Energy Sources
Sustainable Land Use
Population Stabilization

References
Exploratorium.edu
Eugene S. Takle, Iowa State University
Joan L. Aron, Vulnerability Associated with
Climate Variability and Climate Change in
Central America and the Caribbean
Union of Concerned Scientists
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change

Extra Slides

Scientists predict that continued global warming on the order of

2.5-10.4F over the next 100 years (as projected in the IPCC's
Third Assessment Report) is likely to result in:

severe stress on many forests, wetlands, alpine regions, and other

natural ecosystems

greater threats to human health as mosquitoes and other diseasecarrying insects and rodents spread diseases over larger
geographical regions

disruption of agriculture in some parts of the world due to increased

temperature, water stress, and sea-level rise in low-lying areas such
as Bangladesh or the Mississippi River delta.