GLOBAL WARMING – “IT’S WORSE THAN YOU THINK”
These were the opening words of the 37th Calver Lecture at the APHA meeting in Boston. Paul Epstein, MD, MPH delivered an outstanding lecture entitled Global Warming – Health and Human Rights, during the Environment Section’s flagship conference event.
The Environment Section sponsors the Homer N. Calver Lecture series each year. It showcases a speaker from the geographic area where the APHA Annual Meeting is held. A special feature of the Calver Series is that the topic represents late breaking issues, emerging technology, and sometimes controversial issues in environmental health. Environmental impact due to global warming certainly fits this description.
Dr. Epstein’s remarks were accompanied by a powerful and graphic presentation of planetary impacts. He also recognized several changes which have only occurred in just the last five years.
For example, findings show that the oceans absorb 22 times more heat than that absorbed by the atmosphere. Urban centers keep a higher temperature (about 7 degrees) compared to rural areas, contributing to the “CO2 dome” effect. Per barrel prices of oil have increased primarily due to dependence on oil life cycle cost (exploration, storage, pipelines, production, etc.). Warmer climates and temperatures contribute to 1 million malaria deaths per year: 3,000 children in Africa alone. These global changes also influence storm activity (Katrina, Rita, Wilma) and other effects such as a severe wind storm in Norway last year. His slides depicted conditions which further confirm the warming process and that “rates of change” are significant.
Dr. Epstein emphasized that human health is dependent on our environment and economy. He spoke of the confluence of forces and the convergence of agendas which contribute to an unhealthy planet. He challenged the audience to stabilize the imbalances through increased use of wind energy, a photovatelic technology, green buildings, and the use of hybrid vehicles. He cautioned that with a new energy plan and better alignment of rewards with regulations, we can reverse these negative trends to our global environment.
Submitted by Leon F. Vinci, DHA, director of public health, Johnson County Health Department
Section Events
The Environment Section Social and Awards Ceremony was well attended and an enjoyable occasion to connect with friends and welcome the many new members. The Distinguished Service Award was presented to Dr. Vince Radke for all of his efforts on behalf of the Section and APHA. This year, in addition to the Student Poster Awards, 17 Student Travel Scholarships were awarded. The Environment Poster Sessions highlighted an array of interesting projects, and we hope to increase the visibility of the posters during next year’s meeting.
Environment Section Field Trip
The Section Field Trip has become a popular tradition, open to all Section members, as the Section sponsors an activity designed to explore environmental projects in the local area. This year, in furthering the theme of community gardening and sustainable agriculture, members from the Food and Nutrition Section were invited to attend. The field trip included a walking tour of several community gardens supported by the Boston Food Project and a local orchard through Earth Works. The field trip continued out of Boston into Sharon, Mass., for a tractor-trailor ride over the fields of the Red Tomato Organic Sustainable Farm.
Environment Section Sessions
Many of the sessions from the Annual Meeting have slides posted on the APHA members Web site if you are interested in more information http://www.apha.org/meetings/sessions/RecordedPresentations.htm. Following is a list of Environment Section sessions:
- Public Health and Nanotechnology Policy Development
- Environmental Justice and Access to Healthy Foods: Developing Community-University Partnerships to Address the Built Environment
- Environmental Justice in the Home: Strategies to Improve Public Health
- Built Environmental Institute: Poster Session
- Human Rights, Hydrocarbons, and Hozho
- Public Health and Challenges of Peak Oil
- Global Climate Change, Clean Energy and Human Rights
- Built Environment Institute I: Community and Neighborhood Health Perspectives
- Protecting Children's Environmental Health: Education and Social Justice
- Challenging The Chip: Labor Rights, Health and Environmental Justice in the Global Electronics Industry
- Built Environment Institute II: Teaching the Built Environment: Health Connection
- Joint Environment and Nutrition Track: Drugs in our Corn Flakes? Risks to Public Health and the U.S. Food Supply?
- Katrina, Superfund, and Environmental Exposures: Risk Assessment Perspectives
- Water, Water Everywhere, But Not a Safe Drop to Drink!
- The Health Impacts of Medical Waste Incineration and Alternatives
- Coordinating the Environmental Health Research Aims and Methods of Scientists and Affected Communities
- Deadly Legacy of Military Toxics: Community Initiative to Document and Address Health and Environmental Impacts
- Built Environment Institute III: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - Creating a Model for Public Health Involvement In Brownfield and Other Land Redevelopment Sites
- Compromised Air, Water, and Public Works: An International Perspective
- Get the Lead Out!: A Children's Health Emergency
- Cost-Benefit Analyses of Environmental Policies and Diseases
- Human Health and the Environment: Toward an Ecological View
- Strategies and Visions for the Future to Protect Scientific Integrity
- Tools for Tracking and Protecting Environmental Public Health
- Advocacy for Improved Air Quality-A Community Environmental Justice Perspective
- Identifying and Mitigating Localized Air Pollution
- Right to A Healthy Home
- Joint Environment and Nutrition Track: The Challenge of Industrial Animal Production: Impacts on the Environment, Consumers, Workers and Human Rights