Author Archive
Climate Change is Altering the Lives of Alaska’s Natives
Posted by U.S. News and World Report: Joel N. Shurkin on October 26th, 2011
U.S. News and World Report: Climate change has altered the lives of Native Alaskans in the state's interior in dramatic, sometimes dangerous ways.
Although the effects of change are well documented along the coast, where higher tides and ferocious storms have threatened native communities, a study by the U.S. Geological Survey has found indigenous people in Alaska's interior also have felt the transformation to a warmer climate during the past several decades of their lifetimes.
The study, appearing in the October 2011...
Weather changes may predict cholera outbreaks
Posted by U.S. News and World Report: Joel N. Shurkin on June 14th, 2011
U.S. News and World Report: Scientists working with data from the cholera-plagued Tanzanian archipelago of Zanzibar have found that even a slight variation in temperature or rainfall could herald an epidemic.
That's both good news and bad news.
The good news is that by monitoring the weather and changes in the climate, epidemiologists may be able to predict the arrival of a disease epidemic up to four months in advance, early enough to make maximum use of vaccines.
The bad news is that with global warming, it is likely...
Climate Change, Food Safety Linked
Posted by U.S. News and World Report: Joel N. Shurkin on February 23rd, 2011
U.S. News and World Report: Global warming has the potential to make what we eat more dangerous and expensive, and the world already is feeling the effects, according to experts. Click here to find out more! A quartet of scientists reporting during the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington last weekend said the issues of food safety are poorly understood, but the inference from what is known is distressing. They fear that global warming would lead to increased levels of contamination...