3-5: Global Change and Human Health

Pre-Class Preparation

Objectives

• To gain an overview of the different ways that changes in the global environment impact human health.
• To understand how increased ultraviolet radiation interacts with human organs and disrupts normal body functioning.

Procedure

1. Read the learning unit.

   Class images

2. Take the learning unit quiz. Quizzes are available from your portfolio. You may access your portfolio via the list of students participating in this year's course, as represented by the icon below.
   
   
3. Additional Required Reading. Although you are not ultimately responsible for content listed in this section, we encourage you to fully explore the links in order to provide a better scope on the upcoming class discussion.

   	Climate change scenarios: The possible health effects. (From UNEP.)
   	Eddy, John A., ed, 1997: Consequences: The Nature & Implications of Environmental Change (3)2. (From GCRIO.)

Class Discussion

• Problem to ponder...
  

• Class Discussion Summary:

Post-Class Activities

• Participate in the electronic dialog. Use this forum for:
  • continuing class discussion;
  • posing new questions to students or the instructor;
  • responding to issues/questions raised by students in class/electronic dialog.

  Visitor Access (Visitors are welcome to participate in the dialog. Just click on the icon below)	Student Access (Students must post all dialog from their portfolio. Click on the icon below to access the student list.)

• Participate in the electronic dialog. Use this tool for:
  • continuing class discussion;
  • posing new questions to students or the instructor;
  • responding to issues/questions raised by students in class/electronic dialog.

• Recommended Reading Materials

  	CIESIN Thematic Guide: Health Effects from Increased Exposure to Ultraviolet-B (UV-B) Radiation due to Stratospheric Ozone Depletion
  	CIESIN Thematic Guide: Human Health and Global Change
  	Climate, Ecology and Human Health, from Consequences Magazine
  	Evidence of Climate Connections to the Return of Infectious Diseases.
  	Global total of countries reporting incidences of infectious diseases.
  	Global Warming and Infectious Disease.
  	Human Activities that are Affecting Global Climate Change: EPA Report on Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-94
  	Pamphlets and Press Releases from the American Academy of Dermatology.
  	UV Index and Sun protection.
  	Jeevan, A., and M. L. Kripke, 1993: Ozone Depletion and the Immune System. The Lancet, 342, 1159-1160.

• References

  	American Meteorology Society Journals
  	Patz, Jonathan A., Paul R. Epstein, Thomas A. Burke, and John M. Balbus, 1996: Global Climate Change and Emerging Infectious Diseases. Journal of American Medical Association 275, 217-223.
  	Stanford, J. L. and J. R. Ziemke, 1996: A Practical Method for Predicting Midlatitude Total Column Ozone From Operational Forecast Temperature. Journal of Geophysical Research, 101, 28,769-28,773.
  	Stanford, J. L., J. R. Ziemke, R. D. McPeters, A. J. Krueger, and P. K. Bhartia, 1995: Spectral Analyses, Climatology, and Interannual Variability of Nimbus-7 TOMS Version 6 Total Column Ozone. NASA Reference Publication 1360, April, 80 pp.
  	Wendler, G., and T. Quakenbush, 1996: UV radiation in the southern seas inearly spring 1993. Theoretical and Applied Climatology 53, 221-230.