ACES hosts event looking at health impacts of climate change
Dr. Mark Gladwin, the dean of University of Maryland School of Medicine and the vice president of Medical Affairs, is slated to speak with Aspen Center for Environmental Studies from 6 to 7 p.m. July 2 on the worsening health impacts in the face of human-driven climate change.
The talk, which will take place in Paepcke Auditorium, is centered around the growing impacts on human health that are driven by anthropogenic, meaning due to human activity, climate change. Gladwin will look at impacts on both an international scale and specific to the Mountain West.
According to Gladwin, rising temperatures are leading to the spread of disease, especially as more historically warmer, more tropical viruses are able to move north. Worsening air quality from things like forest fires and pollution compound the issue.
“I’ll be talking in my lecture about the four horsemen of the apocalypse from Revelations, where you have the red horse of war, and the concept of heat and fire,” Gladwin told The Aspen Times. “As temperatures rise, we’re seeing increasing mortality in heat vulnerable populations.”
Gladwin explained that Aspen’s risk of wildfire and exposure to lower air quality from wildfire smoke leaves people vulnerable to those health impacts, not all of which are yet understood. He noted that the specific chemicals that are released by wildfires have been worsening due to burning structures and high heat.
“During forest fires, there’s a tremendous level of volatilized organic compounds, and so we’re breathing those compounds,” Gladwin said. “We have no idea the impact of those compounds on human health, but what we see with smoke and fire is that it leads to a highly significant increase in cardiovascular events and pulmonary events, and we see chronically a reduction in lung function.”
Gladwin added that climate change is also leading some species to migrate into regions they previously did not occupy. One of the most notable examples of this are ticks, which have had a record-breaking season in the U.S. this summer, Gladwin confirmed, and which are expanding into higher elevations in the Colorado mountains. This is creating the risk of a number of viruses, including exposure to Lyme disease, Colorado tick fever and more.
Droughts and flooding, both of which follow patterns of worsening weather shifts due to climate change, are also likely to lead to even more health impacts, Gladwin added.
“There’s a number of bacteria that are directly linked to flooding events, so I’ll talk about things … things like that, and how we’re seeing dramatic increases in those related complications,” Gladwin said.
Gladwin also said he hopes this talk can be the first step towards a partnership between ACES and the University of Maryland, emphasizing that the university has science funding but might miss some of the public outreach and education that ACES can provide.
“[The University of Maryland] doesn’t have the policy and educational experience of ACES, and so it could be an ideal East Coast, West Coast partnership,” Gladwin said.
The talk is free, but registration is required. To register, visit aspennature.org/activity/jessica-catto-dialogue-the-generational-challenge-of-climate-medicine/.