NEBRASKA ON THE EDGE:

Climate change and human health

CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL

Evidence

Carbon is the building block of life

CHOCOLATE BUTTER

ALCOHOLSTARCH

Everything that was ever alive has carbon in it.

Burning releases the carbon into the air as carbon dioxide

which forms a blanket around the earth trapping the heat of the sun.

USDA Plant Hardiness Zones

THE ESSENTIALS

AIR

WATER

FOOD

SAFE PLACE

Case One

9 year old athlete turns into couch potato

Ozone increases with temperature

Ozone increases with coal exports

Ozone Causes and Worsens Asthma

Thurston GD Am J Respir Crit Care Med RMcConnell Lancet.304):386-91.February 1, 1997 vol. 155 no. 2654-660

Inh

aler

Use

3 Sports = Triple Risk

Ozone ppb

Ozone Kills older people with chronic diseases

OZONE LEVEL

DE

AT

HS

Omaha's Ozone Summers

Ziska, L. H. and F. A. Caulfield. Australian Journal of Plant Physiology, 2000. 27: 893− 898.

PollenHigher Count Longer Season

Mold Causes and Worsens Asthma

US Childhood Asthma RatesTripled 1960-2009

L Akinbami, 2009 National Center for Health Statistics

5 year old boy hyperactive at home and school

Seasonal Variation in Air Lead and Soil

Seasonal Variation in Childhood Blood Lead

ACHIEVEMENT TESTS AND LEAD LEVELS

Blood Lead

Pro

bab

ility

of

Lo

w S

core

s

ELEVATED AIR LEAD 2011 EPA

Omaha Lincoln Alliance Beatrice Fremont

NE Towns with ChildhoodLead Poisoning Risk

Grand Island Hastings Harvard Nebraska City Scottsbluff

Nebraska Dept of Health and Human Services

2 month old with diarrhea and constant crying

Iowa Women's Health StudyThyroid Cancer Related to Nitrates in Water

NITRATESNebraska Wells Over EPA Standard (red)

Nitrate Impaired Rivers and Streams (black)

Poor Plant Uptake=More Nitrate Runoff

Arsenic in Drinking Water

“Extremely More”Water Stressed by 2025

BLUE GREEN ALGAE BLOOMS

BIOTOXIN: Microcystin

BLUE GREEN ALGAE TOXIN POISONINGS

AMOEBIC MENINGOENCEPHALITIS

Primary Amoebic Encephalitis

NEW: Minnesota 2010, Kansas 2011, Indiana 2012

25 year old woman with diarrhea for 2 weeks

Imported ProduceIrrigated With Reclaimed Water

AFLATOXINMissouri 2012

2008

Fungal Toxins in Grain Crops 2012

68 year old man unable to walk

West Nile Virus Neuroinvasive Cases

Mosquitos carrying West Nile Virus

Dengue 1960 2005

DENGUE CASES IN THE AMERICAS 1980-2010

Dengue Mosquitos

Public Health Capacity Infectious Disease Outbreaks

EXTREME HEATEurope 2003 70,000 deaths

HEAT AND DROUGHT INCREASE VIOLENCE

Severe Heat Waves were every 30 years will be EVERY YEAR by 2040.

Journal of Great Lakes Research 36 (2010) 65–73 K Hayhoe

+ 2-3 DEGREES

BY 2030

+ 4-6 DEGREES

BY 2050

Carbon Dioxide Is (pretty much) Forever.

Hu

nd

reds

ThousandsTens of Thousands

YEARS TO REMOVE CO2 FROM ATMOSPHERE

EMERGENCY

2030

40% OBESE

44% CV DISEASE

1 in 5 DIABETES

2050 1 in 2 OBESITY AND CV DISEASE, 1 in 3 DIABETES

ME EITHER

HEART DISEASE, OBESITY, DIABETES; CANCERS:PROSTATE, COLON, UTERUS, RECURRENT BREAST

ONE THIRD

CAUSED BY

PHYSICAL INACTIVITY

ASTHMA, CANCER, HEART DISEASE

HEART DISEASE, CANCER, DIABETES, OBESITY

IN HALF BY 2030 IN HALF AGAIN BY 2050

HOW MUCH? HOW FAST?REDUCING OUR EMISSIONS

A Healthy Prescription

For Climate Action

OVER 1000 US CITIES COMMITTED TO THE 2005 KYOTO PROTOCOL

CLEAN ELECTRICITYINVESTMENT

STOP DIRTY EXPORTS REGULATE POLLUTERS

PUT A PRICE ON CARBON

IMPROVE ENERGY EFFICIENCY

BUILDINGS FUEL ECONOMY

CLEANER LEANER FUELS

20,000 Heart Attacks PREVENTED 23,000 Deaths each year

SAVED: OVER 100 BILLION DOLLARS PER YEAR

GET CITY PEOPLE OUT OF THEIR CARSSMART GROWTH

BIKEWAYS AND WALKWAYSBETTER PUBLIC TRANSIT

10,000 colon cancers215,000 heart attacks PREVENTED570,000 new diabetes cases each year

ANNUAL SAVINGS SF AREA $1.4-22 BILLION/YEAR

HEALTHY FARMS & HEALTHY FOODSSUBSIDIZE SOIL CARBON

SUBSIDIZE CROP DIVERSITYDECREASE FOOD WASTETURN WASTE TO ENERGY

300,000 Heart Attacks/Strokes PREVENTED260,000 New Diabetes Cases each year144,000 Cancer Deaths

We can have a healthyhigh quality future

if we act now.*

*but we're almost out of time.

HEALTHY PEOPLE = HEALTHY PLANET

www.climate911.org