Human Health Effects

As a research scientist working for the U.S. Panel on Global Climate Change Research, you and your colleagues have been collecting data in the field for months. Research on varying aspects of Earth’s diverse ecosystems has been studied and your colleagues are just now gathering to share their experiences and preliminary findings with the rest of the group.

With a major international conference looming, it’s time for all of you to analyze the data to formulate a comprehensive report on global climate change on planet Earth.

This conference requires more than a standard report citing data and displaying results in tables and graphs. Analysis of the data will be required to fully present an accurate picture of the state of the planet’s climate and trends that have been the focus of heated controversy and debate for the last decade. As a scientist, you naturally look at the data from purely objective perspectives.

An important element of the ongoing research on global climate change is the study of how any climate changes may affect human health. Understanding the mechanisms behind potential climate changes will allow accurate predictions of impacts on human health and the social and political factors that will affect the well-being of millions of people.

Your team is tasked with researching the predicted climate changes and the corresponding impact, if any, that the changes will have on human health. You will be responsible for reporting both the changes and consequences. Once an accurate assessment is made, we can move on to resolutions that might alleviate any negative impacts.

In order to present accurate, complete, and valid findings, you will have to:

1) Analyze the data and identify any trend that occurred in human health around the world.

Think before and after to help you identify a “big picture” of the parameter and the changes that might have occurred over decades.

2) What are the impacts of this change?

Impacts of changes in human health are both short and long term. The international panel will need to know impending impacts in order to plan for the future. What socioeconomic and environmental information is needed to accurately assess the risks?

3) What appears to be the source(s) of the changes? Can you identify a major cause?

This is very important to understanding the mechanisms that drive the change and, therefore, important to finding a possible solution or remediation of the impact.

4) What solutions or mediations do you see that could mitigate the change? How long would they take to make a difference? What are the pros and cons of the approach?