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Climate Change Challenges and Opportunities for Global Health
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Editorial: Journal of the American Medical Association. Health is inextricably linked to climate change. It is important for clinicians to understand this relationship in order to discuss associated health risks with their patients and to inform public policy. To provide new US-based temperature projections from downscaledclimate modeling and to review recent studies on health risks related to climate change and the cobenefits of efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. We searched PubMed from 2009 to 2014 for articles related to climate change and health, focused on governmental reports, predictive models, and empirical epidemiological studies. Of the more than 250 abstracts reviewed, 56 articles were selected. In addition, we analyzed climate data averaged over 13 climate models and based future projections on downscaled probability distributions of the daily maximum temperature for 2046-2065. We also compared maximum daily 8-hour average with air temperature data taken from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Climate Data Center. By 2050, many US cities may experience more frequent extreme heat days. For example, New York and Milwaukee may have 3 times their current average number of days hotter than 32°C (90°F). The adverse health aspects related to climate change may include heat-related disorders, such as heat stress and economic consequences of reduced work capacity; and respiratory disorders, including those exacerbated by fine particulate pollutants, such as asthma and allergic disorders; infectious diseases, including vectorborne diseases and water-borne diseases, such as childhood gastrointestinal diseases; food insecurity, including reduced crop yields and an increase in plant diseases; and mental health disorders, such as posttraumatic stress disorder and depression, that are associated with natural disasters. Substantial health and economic co-benefits could be associated with reductions in fossil fuel combustion. For example, the cost of greenhouse gas emission policies may yield net economic benefit, with health benefits from air quality improvements potentially offsetting the cost of US carbon policies. Evidence over the past 20 years indicates that climate change can be associated with adverse health outcomes. Health care professionals have an important role in understanding and communicating the related potential health concerns and the cobenefits from reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
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Atmospheric CO2 forces abrupt vegetation shifts locally, but not globally
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It is possible that anthropogenic climate change will drive the Earth system into a qualitatively different state1. Although different types of uncertainty limit our capacity to assess this risk 2, Earth system scientists are particularly concerned about tipping elements, large-scale components of the Earth system that can be switched into qualitatively different states by small perturbations. Despite growing evidence that tipping elements exist in the climate system1,3, whether large-scale vegetation systems can tip into alternative states is poorly understood4. Here we show that tropical grassland, savanna and forest ecosystems, areas large enough to have powerful impacts on the Earth system, are likely to shift to alternative states. Specifically, we show that increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration will force transitions to vegetation states characterized by higher biomass and/or woody-plant dominance. The timing of these critical transitions varies as a result of between-site variance in the rate of temperature increase, as well as a dependence on stochastic variation in fire severity and rainfall. We further show that the locations of bistable vegetation zones (zones where alternative vegetation states can exist) will shift as climate changes. We conclude that even though large-scale directional regime shifts in terrestrial ecosystems are likely, asynchrony in the timing of these shifts may serve to dampen, but not nullify, the shock that these changes may represent to the Earth system.
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DEC Adopts Chronic Wasting Disease Regulations in Response to Pennsylvania Discovery
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The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has adopted changes to its Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) regulations that prohibit people from importing into New York state certain parts of white-tailed deer or elk taken in the state of Pennsylvania, DEC Commissioner Joe Martens announced today. This revision finalizes the emergency rule implemented last October.
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Disease Deadly To Bats Confirmed In Georgia
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The disease that has killed millions of bats in the eastern U.S. has been confirmed for the first time in Georgia. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that bats with white-nose syndrome were found recently at two caves in Dade County.
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Federally Endangered Bat Found in North Georgia: First Indiana Bat in Almost 50 Years
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In May of last year, a federally endangered Indiana bat woke from hibernation in her Tennessee cave and traveled to a north Georgia forest. This rite of spring may have gone unnoticed except for the fact that the tiny bat carried a transmitter the size of a toothpick.
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White-nose Syndrome Decimates North Carolina’s Bats
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Biologists with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have determined that white-nose syndrome (WNS) continues to decimate bat populations in western North Carolina, with some infected locations showing up to a 95 percent decline in hibernating bats over the past one to two years. The disease, which has been confirmed in seven counties in western North Carolina, does not affect people.
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Residents Encouraged to Participate in Appalachian Bat Survey
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Pennsylvania Game Commission biologists are seeking assistance from residents in a regional monitoring effort to collect bat maternity colony data this summer. This monitoring is especially important to measure bat mortalities caused by White-Nose Syndrome (WNS), a disease that affects hibernating bats in Pennsylvania and other parts of the eastern United States.
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Where the Not-So-Mighty Chestnut Still Grows
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A recent study by U.S. Forest Service, university, and state agency researchers provides baseline information on contemporary populations of American chestnut needed to support restoration of the tree to the forests it once dominated.
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