Dr. Helene Margolis
How can we help communities face the impacts of climate change? As a chronic disease and environmental epidemiologist, Dr. Helene Margolis (UC Davis) works on investigating environmental impacts on individuals and populations in order to translate that science into policy. She talked to Maya Bon for Climate Resolve about the health impacts of climate change and how we can act locally with policies to protect the public.
What is the relationship between climate change and human health?
Dr. Helene Margolis: Within developed and developing nations, climate change is going to have a very broad range of health impacts. There are definitely subgroups of the population who are going to be more vulnerable to those adverse health impacts, both because they are biologically more susceptible and because of the social determinants of health . There is a broad range of vulnerability with respect to climate change.
Because climate change is affecting some key environmental parameters such as ambient heat, winter time will not be as cold, snow may be in more in the form of ice, there will be both extreme events and longer term environmental shifts that change the physical environment in which we live, but also the physical environment in which various pathogens live, in which animals may live. So, the range of certain vectors for vector-borne diseases may change so that places that have never seen a certain disease may now see it and the clinicians may not be prepared to identify it as these changes occur.
The most imminent threats that people speak about are ambient heat and lack of water and changes in precipitation patterns. What they are anticipating is more frequent extreme events with respect to precipitation. For example, while annual rainfall may not change in the Central Valley of California, it may come down all at once as an extreme precipitation event and then nothing after that. So, there are changes that put people at risk and also change the natural environment.
--
--
The other main concern is the changes due to ambient heat and due to the higher ultraviolet radiation that is anticipated - that there is going to be greater ozone formation, which is the common constituent in smog that exists almost any place that there is an urban environment. Heat, air pollution, and changes in precipitation have both direct and indirect effects. I would characterize the health impacts as both direct, such as those from extreme events, and indirect, such as those from the more subtle changes that we are seeing in the natural environment.
What groups are more vulnerable to climate change-related health impacts?
HM: First of all, anyone - regardless of age, regardless of health -- can experience heat-related illness. There is a spectrum of heat-related illness that actually needs clinical definitions. There are also individuals who have preexisting diseases due to heat stress, such as cardiovascular or respiratory [disease], that may be more susceptible to suffering heat stress and actual adverse outcomes associated with heat stress. Infants and young children that can't remove themselves from heat exposure can suffer more because they are physiologically somewhat less able to remove themselves. They lose less heat in their body, which leads to a heat gain and heat illness; because they are little and don't really know that it is dangerous, they will keep playing, which will lead them to become exposed. Once one becomes heat stressed and starts getting sick, it can keep getting worse - as long as one is being exposed.
The other problem is that children tend not to drink as much fluids and water voluntarily because their perception of thirst is different. Similarly, for older adults, including healthy older adults, they may have preexisting conditions. Even just being older, they are less able to thermoregulate, which means our various physical abilities to bring our body temperature down to a healthy range. Even if they are healthy, they are different than slightly younger adults in their ability to cast off and manage heat. You also run into those individuals, especially older adults, who have various chronic diseases, like cardiovascular, respiratory, who may be taking medications that decrease their ability to thermoregulate. Both in terms of behavior and in terms of physiology, children are especially vulnerable. Older adults, in part because of a greater physical susceptibility and because of the various complications of having a higher rate of comorphic conditions, such as cardiovascular and respiratory.
The other health issue that affects all age groups, which is a huge, growing issue, is the obesity epidemic across the nation and across the world. The various physical health conditions associated with [being overweight or obese] actually increase a person's biologically susceptibility for heat stress.
What are some of the specific ways that heat levels impact human health?
HM: If an individual is exposed to heat, normally as a healthy individual, there are all sorts of wonderful, natural, physiologic abilities to regulate how much heat our body can handle. The most effective way to manage the heat is perspiration or sweating. In order to perspire, which is the main mode of getting back to a healthy temperature, extra cardiac output and extra respiratory function are required. If individuals have either respiratory or cardiovascular impairments, they become over taxed. That extreme heat, in addition to actual heat related illness which causes a whole fleet of emergencies where the body temperature can rise and cause organ damage or organ failure and very serious outcomes including a high rate of mortality, even in the absence of overt heat stroke, if someone has cardiovascular disease, it increases the risk of heart attack and other cardiovascular
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
29/04/2024
Premier Sports, an Irish-based premium sports broadcaster, has selected QuickLink's Remote Commentary solution for introducing professional, high-quality re...
29/04/2024
The awards celebrate the craft of behind-the-scenes TV talent and the best programmes of 2023
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: April 29, 2024
The awards cel...
29/04/2024
The team at Milk had to create and deliver the VFX and environment work for the royal residences featured in the drama from scratch
By Jenny Priestley
Publis...
29/04/2024
CEO Bob Bakish is expected to leave the company as early as today, with a new leadership committee likely to run the company on an interim basis
By Jenny Pries...
29/04/2024
Albena Ivanova, director, media and entertainment and strategic products at CHAOS Media talks to TVBEurope about her route into the industry
By TVBEurope Staff...
29/04/2024
The acquisition gives Grand Technix the opportunity to expand its footprint in the audio visual and broadcast technology sectors
By Jenny Priestley
Published...
29/04/2024
29 04 2024 - Media release Screen Australia announces James J. Robinson's debut feature First Light
First Light
Principal Photography is underway on Firs...
29/04/2024
Capitol Broadcasting recently became the inaugural company honored with inductio...
28/04/2024
Mediahaus delivers the first SRT live-streaming sports production over 5G with U...
27/04/2024
On April 26, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher E. Kubasik joined CNBC's Mor...
27/04/2024
PORTLAND, Oregon Audinate Group Limited, the developer of the Dante AV-over-IP solution, announced significant new additions to Dante Connect, its cloud-based D...
27/04/2024
TORONTO Bell Media has launched 10 English and French-language FAST channels featuring entertainment, factual, news, and sports programming. The new free stream...
27/04/2024
An extensive new analysis of the news segments in the broadcast evening news programs of ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS has found that broadcasters devoted most of their...
27/04/2024
GERMANTOWN, Md. EchoStar's Hughes Network Systems has opened a new manufacturing facility and private 5G incubation center in Germantown, Maryland....
27/04/2024
Harry Pappas, one of three brothers who founded Pappas Telecasting Companies in 1971, died April 24. He was 78 years old....
27/04/2024
ATLANTA and LONDON Mexican telecommunications and broadcast company Televisa has selected Synamedia for an overhaul of its broadcast distribution....
27/04/2024
Participate in the Survey - The Impact of AI on Media and the Creative Industry
Pascal Wagner April 26, 2024
0 Comments
By participating in this surve...
27/04/2024
SDVI Rally Access Workstation Earns Two Top Awards at 2024 NAB Show
Brie Clayton April 26, 2024
0 Comments
SDVI, the leading platform provider for clo...
27/04/2024
Berklee's Music and Health Institute Launches Community Health Musician Cert...
27/04/2024
Charter Communications reported higher first-quarter profits despite continued cord-cutting and competition for broadband customers....
27/04/2024
Two environmentally-focused groups are partnering to engage the unscripted TV world in finding better ways to address climate change. Reality of Change is an ec...
27/04/2024
Sarah Garcia has been promoted to weekend anchor at KTLM McAllen, Texas, known as Telemundo 40. Starting April 27, she will anchor Noticias Telemundo 40 weekend...
27/04/2024
CBS Sports said it launched a new 24-hour free, ad supported streaming television (FAST) channel devoted to the UEFA Champions League....
27/04/2024
Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts received $35.4 million in compensation in 2023, up 11% from the previous year, according to a proxy statement filed by th...
27/04/2024
Art Happens Here With John Lithgow, which sees the actor study dance, ceramics, silk-screen printing and vocal jazz with students in Los Angeles, debuts on PBS ...
27/04/2024
Remember Leave It to Beaver? Bewitched? Dragnet? When cable ratings were rising?...
27/04/2024
Next up for the weekend binge at Catchy Comedy is Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. Every weekend, Catchy Comedy features The Catchy Binge, a marathon of a classic sitcom....
26/04/2024
Sundance Film Festival CDMX 2024 kicks-off today with screenings in 5 theaters in Mexico City and the opening-night film, FRIDA, directed by Carla Guti rrez...
26/04/2024
[Editor's Note: This interview is part of a larger feature about the women d...
26/04/2024
Once again this year, SGL Carbon opened its doors to interested children and young people. On the occasion of the German Girls and Boys Day, which took place on...
26/04/2024
Orders1 of $5.5 billion; book-to-bill of 1.06x
Revenue of $5.2 billion, up 17%,...
26/04/2024
Five Considerations For Communications Modernization In The 21st Century
In the digital-enabled battlespace, the Joint Force needs to shoot, move and communica...
26/04/2024
CBS Sports has launched Champions League as a new, 24-hour streaming channel that will serve as the year-round destination for nonstop highlights of the UEFA ...
26/04/2024
Despite tough competition in the streaming space, Roku reported solid results in Q1 2024, beating revenue expectations, with total net revenue up 19% YoY to $88...
26/04/2024
LONDON AND TORONTO Pinewood Toronto Studios has appointed Sarah Farrell as general manager of the Studios in downtown Toronto....
26/04/2024
Quantum to Offer Advanced Filesharing Technology and Performance in StorNext and...
26/04/2024
FilmLight Colour Awards welcomes 2024 entries and introduces new Emerging Talen...
26/04/2024
Picture Shop Announces Chris Evans as Head of Unscripted
Brie Clayton April 26, 2024
0 Comments
Picture Shop announced Chris Evans will lead Unscripte...
26/04/2024
Participate in a Survey - The Impact of AI on Media and the Creative Industry
Pascal Wagner April 26, 2024
0 Comments
By participating in this survey,...
26/04/2024
Toy maker Mattel said it is working with Samsung to launch its first free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels later this year....
26/04/2024
Trusted Media Brands (TMB) said it named Marty Moe as president....
26/04/2024
Ron Howard is the director on Jim Henson Idea Man, a documentary that premieres on Disney Plus May 31. Henson of course created Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Big...
26/04/2024
The ice continues to melt under the regional sports network business as the Seattle Kraken of the National Hockey League have made a long-term deal to broadcast...
26/04/2024
Heading into the upfronts, Warner Bros. Discovery said it launched Olli, a first-party data platform advertiser can use for converged, targeted advertising camp...
26/04/2024
CBS has renewed the drama The Equalizer, which will see season five on in 2024-2025. Queen Latifah stars....
26/04/2024
The CW has entered into an exclusive multiyear broadcast partnership for the Miss USA Pageant and the Miss Teen USA Pageant. The 73rd Miss USA Pageant will air ...
26/04/2024
Fuse Media isn't mincing words in a campaign urging its young viewers to register and participate in the 2024 elections....
Dr. Helene Margolis 
