The Inequities of Climate Change and Health

Climate change is the biggest threat to human health.Links to an external site. A changing climate directly and indirectly impacts on humanity–ranging from effects on air quality, safe drinking water, food security, and heat stress. This can in turn lead to downstream effects on everyday life such as increases in respiratory, cardiovascular, or infectious diseases, to the dismantling of medical supply chains for medications or equipment. This module will introduce the overarching effects of climate change on human health, covering 4 major topics: (a) air quality (b) water safety (c) food insecurity (d) heat. Each topic will highlight these effects in the southeastern United States and importantly, discuss how marginalized populations have been most heavily impacted.