Vulnerable Populations----Women and girls??

One of the most interesting topics to me was what President Michelle Bachelet of Chili spoke up about today regarding climate change.  She stated that women are both victims of, and apart of the solution to, climate change. She stressed the need for countries to seek inclusion of gender to ensure climate justice. I am VERY intrigued how this topic will play out in the conference as I have not heard much about gender and climate justice. I decided to look more up of Michelle talking about this issue. I found on ipsnews.net that Michelle wants for full participation of women at all levels of the negotiations, and an outcome that responds to women's needs and advances women's empowerment. This is because women and girls make up the majority of the world's poor because they have much more limited access to information and financial resources than men which puts them at higher risk of severe climate change impacts. This is definitely interesting as we have seen todaythe popular talk about vulnerable populations affected by climate change. Michelle brings a very interesting proposal to the table as I bet not a lot of people think of gender also when considering vulnerable populations.

DAY 1 @ Paris: Least Developed Countries Fund pledges!!

Today kicked off the first day of the UNFCCC meeting in Paris. As I follow the conference online I have tracked a lot of talk of supporting developing nations and those most vulnerable to climate change.  The leaders speeches talk about how poverty and climate change are intertwined. Presidents Danilo Medina Sanchez, Prime Minister Xavier Bettel Luxembourg, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and President ANote Tong Kiribati all discussed this issue in their statements. Prime Minister Xavier Betel Luxembourg said, “ The conference needs to send a strong signal to the poorest and most vulnerable countries about provision of support in the Paris agreement”.  This topic did not stop at conversation, instead 11 donors pledged close to $250 USD million in new money for the Least Developed Countries Fund.

The United States was apart of this pledge and Obama spoke saying, “ In concert with other nations, America confirms our strong and ongoing commitment to the Least Developed Countries Fund. And tomorrow, we’ll pledge new contributions to risk insurance initaitves that help vulnerable populations rebuild stronger after climate related disasters.” It seems that this is a very pressing issue at this years UNFCC meeting and most nations agree that the developing world needs international support through climate change policy.

Anthropology and Policy Making- Because you know we are humans and not robots

This week we were instructed to read Collaborative Event Ethnography: Conservation and Development Trade-offs at the Fourth World Conservation Congress. This article was very interesting as it was an anthropological approach to policy making. They aimed to understand the both formal and informal nature of conservation policy-making in WCC international forum. This is very important to analyze because behind all policy we are all human and social structure and presentation effects our decision making. They noticed through their research that the most productive theme that arose was the way in which the structure and processes of the meeting influenced what was happening. When they entered the conference the pavilion hall was decorated with wall-sized illustrations. Throughout the conference each meeting they experienced large slideshows containing images with great detail and spectacular visuals. Structurally they noticed the organization of journeys, an experiment to facilitate communication and help attendees navigate the complex schedule of the WCC, greatly affected the participants. The journeys had hard copy colorful illustrated packets. These journeys allowed people to look through to see what meetings, what sections, and what times they were interested in. While this was convenient it affected the conference’s success in many ways because this way certain people were showing up to the same themed events. This helpful journey packet turned into a a communication barrier to the conferences attendees. This is interesting to a fact that you can argue this can be kind of corrupt. Policy making is a serious concrete thing that comes with a lot of thought and time. It is scary to think that not all thought and opinions could be incorporated because of structural things like journeys at these conferences. 

If climate change were whales we would help

This week was our climate policy and politics week and it was so interesting! I have always been fascinated with politics as it seems like such a mystery to me. First we had Jeff Anderson come to our class and he brought up examples of politics in our media and how we react as a nation. The first thing he talked about was a story of a whale that was caught somewhere in Alaska and how the media and everyone was so considered to go help this whale. He said a headline in the new read " If Bosnians were whales, we would help." We contemplated this for awhile and then changed Bosnians to climate change. To me this is a very powerful statement and exposes corruption among our nation and how we respond to things. I think about why and contemplate maybe it is urgency or the visual appearance of immediate danger. To society the whale was in immediate danger and they can see that, climate change isn't one thing one place immediate like that. Climate change is gradual, wide spread, and can't offer us a visual like the whale can. We also talked about 4 ideal environmental world views; market liberals, institutionalizes, bioenviromentalists, and social greens and how they play into climate change.

Today Matt Lindstrom came into our class and spoke about Garrett Hardin's "Tragedy of the commons". This is a metaphor for anything held in commons. Within the commons people are self-interested trying to maximize their benefits and profits. As we discussed solutions we talked about regulation, a top down command and control method. In terms of climate change this would be the solution of carbon taxes. A second solutions was privatization, so in terms of land putting fences up so the individual owning that area reaps all costs and benefits. A third solution is hybrid which would be cap and trade and climate markers. We experimented with these solutions by working in groups on hypothetical case studies. My group had CSBSJU parking regulations. Our top down solution was parking permits categorized by faculty,students, seniority, etc.. Our bottom up solution was for individuals to just understand and respect societal norms of seniors getting the best parking spots, out of respect first years just don't park up close. Our hybrid solution was a cap and trade type system where you purchase random parking passes and them sell your passes to the highest bidder. This activity was very interesting because as we progressed in case studies we implied these same ideas to climate change. An interesting case study was on rivers. If you have a huge chunk of land and split it in 4 equal square chunks and you have a river running through the middle. What if business A and that start of the river has cattle polluting the river that business B has a brewery that has a beautiful porch overlooking the river. A pollutes the river giving B a bad view. This  is called 3rd party effect where costs are pushed over to other resource users. This is the essence of climate change and why we need policy.

Geoengineering: fighting the symptoms of climate change and neglecting a cure

Geoengineering. The sound of the word expresses an interesting and even innovative tone. But, let me be the devil's advocate here. I don't care hate me for it but we all deserve some truth here so here comes a different perspective.

Geoengineering is defined as: the deliberate large-scale manipulation of an environmental process that affects the earth's climate, in attempt to counteract the effects of global warming. These methods are NOT to reduce emissions. These methods keep the current output of carbon emissions but try to find a fix-it solution.

So what does this cool process of Geoengineering consist of? The two main topics are solar radiation management and CO2 removal.

Solar radiation management's main efforts consist of increasing the reflectivity here on earth. Ideas include; reflectors in space, stratospheric aerosols, increased cloud albedo, surface albedo of grasslands, deserts, cropland. So let's just think about this proposition. Reflectors all over the desert. Yeah that sounds great. This is a great example to show that geoengineering can do more harm than good. #1 we aren't even reducing emissions. #2 relating to the reflectors in the desert example- killing natural habitat, yes things are living in the dessert.

CO2 removal is the other main effort. This includes increasing land sink through: forestation, bio-char, bio-energy and storage. Also increasing ocean sink through: solubility pump increasing CO2 dissolved in ocean, increasing ocean alkalinity which increases pH of ocean thereby increasing CO2, biological pump, and air capture of CO2 and storage. To touch briefly on this idea, all these efforts would work in the short-run, but in the long run could be VERY dangerous.

A huge problem with geoengineering is predictability. We CAN'T accurately predict what these methods would do. What if we put reflectors in space and they were too much??? How do we get rid of them?? What if we change the pH of the ocean by too much?? What happens to aquatic life?

Check out these awesome resources for the crazy cool paper I'm writing about climate change and infectious diseases!

Topic Proposal: Climate change is threatening human health. The new environmental conditions are more favorable for infectious disease transmission.

1. Wei, Junni, et al. "The Impact Of Climate Change On Infectious Disease Transmission: Perceptions Of CDC Health Professionals In Shanxi Province, China." Plos ONE 9.10 (2014): 1-8. Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 Nov. 2015.

There have been increasing concerns about the challenge of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases due to climate change, especially in developing countries including China. Health professionals play a significant role in the battle to control and prevent infectious diseases. This study therefore aims to investigate the perceptions and attitudes of health professionals at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in different levels in China, and to consider adaptation measures to deal with the challenge of climate change. This study provides a snapshot of the understanding of CDC staff regarding climate change risks relevant to infectious diseases and adaptation in China. Results may help inform future efforts to develop adaptation measures to minimize infectious disease risks due to climate change.

2. Confalonieri, Ulisses EC, Júlia Alves Menezes, and Carina Margonari de Souza. "Climate Change And Adaptation Of The Health Sector: The Case Of Infectious Diseases." Virulence 6.6 (2015): 550-553. Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.

Infectious diseases form a group of health problems highly susceptible to the influences of climate. Adaptation to protect human population health from the changes in infectious disease epidemiology expected to occur as a consequence of climate change involve actions in the health systems as well as in other non-health sectors. In the health sector strategies such as enhanced and targeted epidemiological and entomological surveillance and the development of epidemic early warning systems informed by climate scenarios are needed. Measures in other sectors such as meteorology, civil defense and environmental sanitation will also contribute to a reduction in the risk of infection under climate change.

3. McMichael, Celia. "Climate Change-Related Migration And Infectious Disease." Virulence 6.6 (2015): 544-549. Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.

Anthropogenic climate change will have significant impacts on both human migration and population health, including infectious disease. It will amplify and alter migration pathways, and will contribute to the changing ecology and transmission dynamics of infectious disease. However there has been limited consideration of the intersections between migration and health in the context of a changing climate. This article argues that climate-change related migration - in conjunction with other drivers of migration – will contribute to changing profiles of infectious disease. It considers infectious disease risks for different climate-related migration pathways, including: forced displacement, slow-onset migration particularly to urban-poor areas, planned resettlement, and labor migration associated with climate change adaptation initiatives.

4. Gislason, Maya K. "Climate Change, Health And Infectious Disease." Virulence 6.6 (2015): 535-538. Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.

The article discusses the impact of climate change to the health of various people in different locations in the world. Topics discussed include the risk categories in determining the causal pathways, the impact of the Zaire ebolavirus species, one of the Ebola (EVD) strains, to the 2014 EVD outbreak, and the impact of human activities, such as agricultural expansion, hunting, and deforestation, to the transmission of infectious diseases.

5. GOLLIN, DOUGLAS, and CHRISTIAN ZIMMERMANN. "Global Climate Change, The Economy, And The Resurgence Of Tropical Disease." Mathematical Population Studies 19.1 (2012): 51-62. Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.

In general, warmer temperatures will expand the areas in which these diseases are endemic. However, if households can take actions to protect themselves from disease—such as purchasing bednets or insecticidal sprays—then economic factors may greatly mitigate the effects of climate change. These actions are costly, however, and particularly in poor countries, many households face borrowing constraints. A model of disease transmission combining the household's objectives and constraints shows that a temperature increase of 3°C will induce modest changes in disease prevalence and output. These effects can be mitigated by improvements in the efficacy of disease prevention.

6. Evengård, Birgitta, and Rainer Sauerborn. "Climate Change Influences Infectious Diseases Both In The Arctic And The Tropics: Joining The Dots." Global Health Action 2.(2009): 1-8. Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.

The article discusses the similarities of transmission mechanism of climate-sensitive infectious diseases in Arctic and tropic areas to identify potential responses for health systems. It states that as vector-based diseases were common on such areas, people of both areas may have surveillance efforts to allow early warning and quick response to disease. It adds the benefits of global collaboration on drug development and health preparedness to help poor nations that will receive more impact.

7. Lindgren, Elisabet, et al. "Monitoring EU Emerging Infectious Disease Risk Due To Climate Change." Science 336.6080 (2012): 418-419. Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.

The article explores the relationship between climate change, globalization, and other drivers that have made Europe a hot spot for emerging infectious diseases. The authors note the transmission of traditionally Tropical diseases in Europe, such as chikungunya fever in Italy, West Nile fever in Greece and Romania, and dengue fever in France and Croatia, adding that these events support a notion among public health officials that Europe is a potential hot spot for emerging or re-emerging infectious diseases (EIDs). Topics include the need for novel approaches to risk assessment and surveillance, the link between climate change, globalization, and infectious diseases, and a diagram illustrating weighted risk analysis of climate change impacts on infectious disease risks in Europe.

8. Myers, Samuel S., and Jonathan A. Patz. "Emerging Threats to Human Health from Global Environmental Change." Annual Review of Environment and Resources Annu. Rev. Environ. Resourc.: 223-52.

Large-scale anthropogenic changes to the natural environment, including land-use change, climate change, and the deterioration of ecosystem services, are all accelerating. These changes are interacting to generate five major emerging public health threats that endanger the health and well-being of hundreds of millions of people. These threats include increasing exposure to infectious disease, water scarcity, food scarcity, natural disasters, and population displacement. Taken together, they may represent the greatest public health challenge humanity has faced. There is an urgent need to improve our understanding of the dynamics of each of these threats: the complex interplay of factors that generate them, the characteristics of populations that make them particularly vulnerable, and the identification of which populations are at greatest risk from each of these threats. Health of People, Places, and Planet. Chapter 25 Detection and attribution of climate change on infectious diseases.

9. Semenza, Jan C. et al.. “Mapping Climate Change Vulnerabilities to Infectious Diseases in Europe”. Environmental Health Perspectives 120.3 (2012): 385–392. Web...

This article outlines a survey of government officials designated as Competent Bodies for Scientific Advice concerning infectious diseases to examine the degree to which they are concerned about potential effects of climate change on infectious diseases, as well as their perceptions of institutional capacities in their respective countries. The results of the study were that the majority of respondents agreed that climate change would affect vector-borne, food-borne, water-borne, and rodent-borne diseases in the country.

10. Lafferty, Kevin D.. “The Ecology of Climate Change and Infectious Diseases”. Ecology 90.4 (2009): 888–900.

The projected global increase in the distribution and prevalence of infectious diseases with climate change suggests a pending societal crisis. The subject is increasingly attracting the attention of health professionals and climate-change scientists, particularly with respect to malaria and other vector-transmitted human diseases. The result has been the emergence of a crisis discipline, reminiscent of the early phases of conservation biology. Latitudinal, altitudinal, seasonal, and interannual associations between climate and disease along with historical and experimental evidence suggest that climate, along with many other factors, can affect infectious diseases in a nonlinear fashion. However, although the globe is significantly warmer that it was a century ago, there is little evidence that climate change has already favored infectious diseases. While initial projections suggested dramatic future increases in the geographic range of infectious diseases, recent models predict range shifts in disease distributions, with little net increase in area. Many factors can affect infectious disease, and some may overshadow the effects of climate.

11. Ostfeld, Richard S.. “Climate Change and the Distribution and Intensity of Infectious Diseases”. Ecology 90.4 (2009): 903–905.

Many infectious diseases of humans, including malaria, dengue, cholera, and schistosomiasis, are restricted to, or more prevalent in, tropical and subtropical zones. Within the tropics and subtropics, they are more prevalent at lower than at higher altitudes. Warmer temperatures characteristic of lower latitudes and altitudes generally increase rates of survival, development, and replication of parasites and of blood-feeding vectors such as mosquitoes. Warmer conditions also increase activity (including biting) rates of vectors, resulting in higher rates of parasite transmission. 

12. Parry, M.L., O.F. Canziani, J.P. Paulutikof, P.J. Van Der Linden, and C.E. Hansen. "Human Health: Infectious Diseases." Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability : Working Group II Contribution to the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Geneva: IPCC Secretariat, 2008. Print

Changes in climate that will affect potential transmission of infectious diseases include temperature, humidity, altered rainfall, and sea-level rise. It is an essential but complex task to determine how these factors will affect the risk of vector-and rodent-borne diseases. This report looks at subsections that describe diseases that have been identified as most sensitive to changes in climate.

1 13. "Natural Solutions to Climate Change." Conservation International. Web. 10 Nov. 2015.

Conservation International is a NGO that works to ensure a healthy and productive planet for everyone. This articles identifies what climate change is. They cite IPCC saying we need immediate and aggressive solutions. This article says that we are at risk of the dangerous impacts of climate change including infectious dieses.

Anthropogenic Climate Change Abstract

This week in class we read the Anthropogenic Climate Change Abstract. It was a very dense policy document filled with a lot of controversy and gray areas. We discussed in class today regarding conflict versus consensus within the document. This was very interesting to me because anything in the document that was in brackets was items that were not agreed upon. The document was also filled with many different options for different scenarios and there solutions. The authors seemed to come to a consensus that climate change is a problem and we must set a goal to continually decrease carbon emissions. The problem is the way to do this, the "how" was not agreed upon. In class my UNFCC cluster, the Sci Tech group created an abstract for the document:

International solution to ACC abstract:

            The purpose of this document was to identify the international solutions to anthropogenic climate change. These solutions consist of reducing emissions with a set time time line for reduction, promoting that reduction in climate resilient societies in economics through education and awareness to the general public, pricing emissions, and utilizing the green climate fund for developing countries. This policy document offers a large scale of proposed solutions but is weak in consensus. Many minimalistic ideas such as emissions, target temperatures, and dates are up to debate. This document attempts to internationally strengthen policy frameworks through these solutions.

One last interesting thing we discussed in class today was the overall viewpoint and disciplinary approach to climate change. My group discussed how we believe that the definition of climate change or climate "science" needs to be altered to a more holistic definition of climate "studies" to allow a more interdisciplinary approach to the problem. All disciplines have a place and interest in climate change and are valued equally in research. Even among the social sciences each discipline is so different from the other and views the same problem differently with a different interest.