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