climate change

Climate Change, the Indoor Environment and Health When we talk about environmental risks to public health, many of us immediately think of issues in our outdoor environment – our air, oceans, soil and streams. Yet, the U.S. EPA ranks indoor air pollution among the top five environmental risks to public health.  With more and more …

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One of the biggest challenges facing this planet isn’t simply feeding a growing population — perhaps as many as 10 billion by the year 2100. The challenge is feeding all those people as the climate changes in ways we can barely project. A new report called “Achieving Food Security in the Face of Climate Change” …

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Every product has a “carbon footprint” measuring its greenhouse gas emissions, a “water footprint” measuring water consumption, and so-on. And if every product has footprints, so too does every person and every organization. While we can and must work to continually reduce footprints, we will never drive our footprints to zero. However, we can also bring …

Handprint-Based NetPositive Assessment Read More »

Boston, Mass (October, 2011)–The recently released, star-clad thriller Contagion provides a sure-fire nightmare trigger for germophobes worldwide. The portrayal of havoc in the wake of a lethal and rapidly spreading plague is nothing new for Hollywood. But this movie takes a unique – and noteworthy – turn from the Hollywood film mill, one that went …

Real-life lessons in Hollywood’s “Contagion” Read More »

Dr. Aaron Bernstein, our Associate Director, and Dr. Mary Rice teamed up to author this article in Chest Journal, the Official publication of the American College of Chest Physicians.  Climate change is a health threat no less consequential than cigarette smoking. Increased concentrations of greenhouse gases, and especially CO2, in the earth’s atmosphere have already warmed …

Lungs in a Warming World: Climate Change and Respiratory Health (Chest Journal) Read More »

Healthy Solutions for the Low Carbon Economy takes a critical look at the potential unintended consequences of using tar sands, shale oil, coal with carbon dioxide capture and storage, biofuels and nuclear energy, while presenting a positive vision for smart grids with renewable sources, green buildings, smart urban growth, and hybrids of power generation for …

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Amid the considerable research on how climate change may affect public health, one subject has received relatively little attention—the impact of climate change on indoor environments. As the world’s climate changes, buildings that were designed to operate under the “old” climatic conditions may not function well under the “new”—affecting the health of those who live, …

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Ground-level ozone, also known as tropospheric ozone, is a type of air pollution that occurs close to the Earth’s surface. This harmful gas is formed by the interaction of sunlight with pollutants from sources like cars, power plants, and industrial facilities. Ground-level ozone can cause a range of health and environmental problems, making it a …

Understanding Ground-Level Ozone: Causes, Effects, and Solutions Read More »

Dr. Aaron Bernstein blogs on climate change and children’s health. Remember last July? It was hot. During a three-day swelter early in the month, the mercury topped 100°F in Boston for only about the twelfth time in the past century. I wasn’t surprised when I found myself caring for many kids at Children’s who wound …

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This report explores some of the impacts that climate change, with warmer and more variable weather, may have on agriculture in the United States. Its aim is to elucidate how warmer temperatures and an increase in extreme weather events (including spells of very high temperatures, torrential rains, and flooding, and droughts may affect a) crop …

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As the world’s population continues to grow and climate change alters weather patterns, scientists are increasingly concerned about the impact of these changes on the spread of infectious diseases. In particular, diseases like cholera and dengue fever are becoming more common in areas that were previously unaffected, and outbreaks are becoming more frequent and severe. …

Infectious Diseases — Changing Planet Read More »