Breadcrumb
About the Climate Change Collaboratory
The Nexus Collaboratory on Climate Change and Health
Climate change is possibly the grandest challenge of our century and represents an existential threat to our country and the world. We are now on a trajectory to exceed a global mean temperature increase of 2°C over pre-industrial levels. This is already producing melting of glaciers and sea ice, sea level rise and coastal inundation, desertification, ocean acidification, loss of biodiversity, increases in vector-borne infectious diseases, and climate-exacerbated extreme weather events. In the U.S., inflation-adjusted billion-dollar disasters have dramatically increased in frequency since 1980. We know that the burdens of climate change are borne disproportionately by people of color and those of lower socioeconomic status.
The overarching goal of this collaboratory is to assemble multidisciplinary teams of climate scientists and public health experts to develop innovative and transformative proposals that will attract new funding for research that addresses the nexus between climate change and public health with a focus on climate challenges in the heartland.
Impacts of Climate Change on Health
Change | Climate Driver | Exposure | HEalth Outcome | IMpact |
---|---|---|---|---|
Extreme Heat | More frequent, severe, prolonged heat events | Elevated temperatures | Heat-related death and illness | Rising temperatures may lead to an increase in heat-related deaths and illnesses |
Outdoor Air Quality | Increasing temperatures and changing precipitation patterns | Worsened air quality (ozone, particulate matter, and higher pollen counts) | Premature death and acute and chronic cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses | Rising temperatures and wildfires and decreasing precipitation may lead to increases in ozone and particular matter, elevating the risks of cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses and death |
Flooding | Rising sea level and more frequent or intense extreme precipitation, hurricanes, and storm surge events | Contaminated water, debris and disruptions to essential infrastructure | Drowning, injuries, mental health consequences, gastrointestinal and other illness | Increased coastal and inland flooding exposes populations to a range of negative health impacts before, during and after events |
Vector-Borne Infection (Lyme Disease) | Changes in temperature extremes and seasonal weather patterns | Earlier and geographically expanded tick activity | Lyme disease | Ticks may show earlier seasonal activity and a generally northward range expansion, increasing risk of human exposure to Lyme disease-causing bacteria. |
Water-Related Infection (Vibrio vulnificus) | Rising sea surface temperature, changes in precipitation and runoff affecting coastal salinity | Recreational water or shellfish contaminated with Vibrio vulnificus | Vibrio vulnificus-induced diarrhea and intestinal illness, wound and bloodstream infections, death | Increases in water temperatures may alter timing and location of Vibrio vulnificus growth, increasing exposure and risk of waterborne illness |
Food-Related Infection (Salmonella) | Increases in temperature, humidity and season length | Increased growth of pathogens seasonal shifts in incidence of Salmonella exposure | Salmonella infection, gastrointestinal outbreaks | Rising temperatures increase Salmonella prevalence in food: longer seasons and warming winters increase risk of exposure and infection |
Mental Health and Well-Being | Climate impacts, especially extreme weather | Level of exposure to traumatic events, like disasters | Distress, grief, behavioral health disorders, social impacts, resilience | Changes in exposure to climate or weather-related disasters may cause or exacerbate stress and mental health consequences |