Pulse
Scary Story
Climate Chaos: Your Health at Risk by Cindy Parker, M.D., M.P.H., and Steven Shapiro, Ph.D., begins with the story of Maria, a fictional physician, wife, and mother who is living in a world that has been changed by global warming. Facing a day when temperatures are predicted to reach 114 degrees by noon, Maria is worrying about her asthmatic son and elderly patients when she gets a call from her brother, who asks if he and his family can move in with her because a dangerous hurricane is expected to destroy their home near the coast.
The book goes on to spell out in detailed-but-understandable terms the ways global climate change will affect the health of this average family. Each chapter includes a heavily referenced discussion of a projected planetary change and its health consequences and a list of things individuals can do to prevent and protect themselves from the health threats brought on by those changes.
Preventing the health effects of global warming has become the full-time focus of author Cindy Parker, who practiced family medicine in New Mexico and Alaska before doing a residency in preventive medicine and earning a master’s degree in public health. Now, as co-director of Johns Hopkins’ unique Program on Global Sustainability and Health, Parker’s “practice” involves educating policymakers, the public, legislators, and health care professionals about the health implications of global warming.
In a phone interview, she shared with us why she thinks it’s important to view climate change as a health issue and what she hopes physicians will do about it.
Why do you want climate change to be seen as a health issue?
The public health community has not had a seat at the table in talks about climate change. That’s a problem because there are major health consequences associated with climate instability. It might spur someone to act on legislation if they know that not enacting it might harm their families.
What do you hope the book achieves?
The book has a two-pronged purpose—to help people protect themselves and to help them work to protect the planet as a whole. People often talk about adaptation to and mitigation of climate change. Adaptation is what we can do to protect ourselves. We’re going to have to do some adapting because we already have carbon in the atmosphere that’s guaranteeing a certain amount of climate change. But all the adaptation that we can envision, much less implement, is not going to save us. We must get the climate stabilized.
This is scary stuff. What keeps you focused and positive?
I see this as a moral and ethical issue. There will be a lot of people harmed if the climate is not stabilized. We feel we have to work as hard as we can. Also, we focus on every little bit of positive we see in terms of reductions in the amount of CO2 going into the atmosphere.
What should physicians do?
The most important thing is to get involved in the policymaking process. Physicians are respected by other community members, so it’s powerful when they talk with policymakers. As an example, here in Maryland, we passed something known as the Healthy Air Act. We mobilized the health care community, state medical society, medical schools, and nurses association and educated lawmakers about how the bill would improve the health of their constituents. How could legislators stand up and say, No I won’t support something that will make my people healthier? I think that was a deciding factor.
–Interview by Carmen Peota
Climate Chaos: Your Health at Risk, Cindy L. Parker, M.D., and Steven M. Shapiro, Ph.D. Praeger Publishers, 2008.
The AMA on Climate Change
The American Medical Association’s Council on Science and Public Health released a report last year that reviews the current scientific information on climate change, discusses the health effects associated with global warming, and offers policy recommendations. Adopted by the AMA House of Delegates at its 2008 interim meeting, the recommendations acknowledge that the AMA:
- Concurs with the scientific consensus that the earth is undergoing climate change and that those changes could affect public health;
- Supports educating the medical community about potential adverse health effects associated with climate change;
- Recognizes the importance of physician involvement in supporting efforts to mitigate climate change and reduce human contributions to those changes;
- Encourages physicians to educate their patients and the public about environmentally sustainable practices; and
- Encourages physicians to work with local health departments to anticipate health concerns related to climate change.
The full report is available at www.ama-assn.org/ama/no-index/about-ama/20302.shtml.
Blowin' in the Wind
Wind turbines have become an increasingly common part of the Midwestern landscape. The imposing structures are so massive (the towers range from 260 to 325 feet tall, with blades as long as 160 feet) that, like mountains, they can be seen from miles away.
To some who live near them, however, these mechanical giants are more menacing than majestic. Some complain that the noise they generate causes headaches and sleeplessness, and is a source of stress.
Last February, the Minnesota Department of Commerce asked the state’s health department to study whether wind turbines do indeed affect people’s well-being after a citizen expressed concern about large wind-power projects proposed for two sites, one near Albert Lea in southern Minnesota and another in the northwestern part of the state. In May, the Department of Health issued the report “The Public Health Impacts of Wind Turbines.”
The report focuses on noise. It turns out that wind turbines generate not just one kind of sound, but a broad spectrum: mechanical noise—the whirring and growling of gears, motors, the ventilation system, and transformers; aerodynamic noise—the whooshing of wind passing over the blades, which can be traveling at speeds greater than 140 miles per hour at their tips; modulated noise—a rhythmic pulsing produced as wind moves irregularly across hills and trees and parts of the turbine; and wind farm noise—the symphonic drone of many turbines.
After a brief review of the studies on the health impacts of wind turbine noise and a physics lesson on sound, the report concludes that the low-intensity noise made by the turbines can, indeed, cause problems for some people who live very close to them. The sounds can be annoying and are blamed for headaches, sleeplessness, and other problems.
Carl Herbrandson, Ph.D., a toxicologist for the Department of Health’s division of environmental health and one of the report’s authors, says noise from wind turbines does seem to irritate some people, emphasizing “some” to point out that individuals respond very differently to sound. But he thinks any health problems can be prevented with good planning. “If noise is modeled properly and set-backs properly determined, there’s no reason why this should be an issue,” he says.—Carmen Peota