Students checking the daily weather forecast may be surprised to hear that a change in climate has more impact on their lives than a mere change of wardrobe.
Dr. Paul Epstein spoke to University students about how climate change can contribute to and propagate the spread of diseases in Africa at a talk Wednesday in the Rutgers Student Center on the College Avenue campus, hosted by the Center for African Studies and the Center for Race and Ethnicity.
"Malaria is the biggest issue," said Epstein, who is the associate director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School. "Its distribution and outbreaks are affected by warming as well as by extreme weather patterns. Malaria kills 2,000 people a day - primarily children and primarily in Africa - so it's a huge issue there. Climate change makes it worse."
Epstein said in the mountains of Africa, the effects of a warming climate are presently evidenced by melting glaciers, a transition of plant communities to higher ground and mosquitoes moving up to a higher altitude. As a result, many new African communities are being exposed to malaria.
Epstein, a medical doctor trained in tropical health, has worked with various organizations such as NASA to assess the health impacts of climate change.
He said the relationship between climate change and its health effects stemmed from a cholera outbreak in 1991.
Three different cities in Peru were struck with cholera and, from there, scientists hypothesized that the nearby warm sea surface temperatures and rich nutrients had led to the growth of algal colonies, which fostered cholera and infected the fish and shellfish populations in the area.
Global warming, which he said has been exacerbated by recent increases in greenhouse gases and weather change, is partly responsible this.
The changing weather patterns in Africa also have a global effect.
"The dust storms in central Africa also affect other parts of the world," Epstein said. "What happens globally affects things globally, and this is a dimension that was not thought of just a few years ago."
Many in the audience found Epstein's assertions to be novel.
"I thought it was a really interesting connection how the climate change in Africa has caused dust storms, which have also affected the Caribbean islands," said Maddie Perlman-Gabel, a Livingston College sophomore.
David Russell, a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Health, remarked that he too was surprised by Epstein's words on climate change and the wide scope of effects on global health.
"I wasn't aware of some of the indirect ways that climate change affects health," Russell said. "It's an issue that is getting more important as we become more aware of the consequences of energy consumption. I think that more people are starting to realize that it's actually happening."
But Epstein said all is not lost. There are steps that can be taken to prevent drastic climate change. In Africa, the spread of meningitis occurs during the dry season when membranes of the respiratory tract become dried up. Since dry seasons can be foreseen, he said climate forecasting is one step towards preventing the disease.
Additionally, since climate change affects everyone on a global scale, there are steps that we can take to alleviate warming. The use of clean energy, green buildings, the planting of trees alongside streets and learning to be environmentally friendly can help, he said.
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