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Annotated Bibliography

Global Warming May Kill Humans Before It Kills the Earth

Elizabeth Kay
Professor Malcolm Campbell
UWRT 1103
October 24th, 2016

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Crimmins, Allison, et al. The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States:
A Scientific Assessment, Executive Summary. US Global Change Research Program,
2016.

Coauthored by sixteen highly qualified individuals, some of which come from the US
Environmental Protection Agency, the National Institutes of Health, and the Center for Disease
Control and Prevention to name a few, The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the
United States: A Scientific Assessment, Executive Summary provides a very thorough look into
the numerous facets of how global warming will affect human health. The book begins by
asserting the validity and severity of how global warming will impact the health and well-being
of humans. Since this had been a topic of continual debate, their recognition of the subject of the
book as a proven issue is very important. In the chapters that follow, the authors go on to explain
how exactly human health will be impacted by climate change. These include temperaturerelated death and illnesses, air quality impacts on human health, the impacts of extreme events
on human health, and the spread of vector-borne diseases on human health. The book was written
as part of the US Global Change Research Program, where authors all have backgrounds relevant
to the research topic. The book is written in a very unbiased way, simply stating scientific
findings and factual information and then elaborating upon that in each chapter. The purpose of
this source is most definitely to inform the reader, which can be a member of the general public
or a member of an academic community. Compared to the other sources that I have cited, this
source is by far the most thorough and complete in its evaluation of the effects of global warming
on human health. It provides a wealth of information on the topic based on scientific research
while still presenting it in a very reader-friendly fashion that is easily understood.

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Patz, Jonathan A, Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, Tracey Holloway, and Jonathan A. Foley.

"Impact of Regional Climate Change on Human Health." Nature, volume 438, 17
November 2005, pp 310-317. UNC Charlotte Library, 10.1038/nature04188.

This peer-reviewed academic journal is authored by four highly qualified individuals stemming
from academia as well as environmental agencies, including the Global Health Institute, the
World Health Organization, the Nelson Institute Center for Sustainability and the Global
Environment, and the California Academy of Sciences. The credibility of the authors in the field
of global health gives relevance to their work on the matter, making this article a very reliable
source of information. As a whole, the journal delves into the relationship between the climate
and human health, especially the observed connection between the upsurge of disease that has
been associated with climate change in recent years. The journal explains how roughly 150,000
lives are taken each year, all of which can be linked to the anthropogenic climate change that has
taken place over the last thirty years. The journal also works to explain how many diseases are
exacerbated by the effects that climate change has on human health. Some examples of this
include the upsurge of cardiovascular mortality and respiratory illness due to heatwaves, altered
transmission of disease, and malnutrition caused by crop failure. This source provides very
factual, and thus relatively objective information on the relationship between climate change and
human health. In this way, this journal will be useful in ascertaining a better understanding of the
connection, that of which is both already established and predicted to be, between climate change
and the rise in human illness and disease. The article is meant to be read by someone in academia
or pursuing research in this specific topic.

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Climate Impacts on Human Health. National Geographic. National Geographic Society,

www.nationalgeographic.com/climate-change/how-to-live-with-it/health.html. Accessed
17 October 2016.
Although National Geographic can be a very factual source, some of its content errors more on
the side of being popular. This particular webpage, whose primary purpose is to provide the,
presumably unknowledgeable reader, with a very basic outline as to how global warming has and
will affect human health. Although the factual information presented in the article is very
objective and, as far as I can tell from my other research, true, it does not include who it is
authored by or cite where all of the information was taken from, making it hard to determine its
credibility. The article explains the projected effects of global warming on human health, some of
which include undernutrition, occupational hazards, infectious disease, and mental health issues.
All of these topics are not extensively explained in any great detail, making the usefulness of this
source very minimal. For the purposes of my research, I am hoping to use sources that go into
greater detail about the effects of climate change on human health, so as to hopefully provide me
with new knowledge on the topic that I can add to my research. Additionally, the sources that I
most want to use for my research are those written by credible authors who are knowledgeable
on the topic. Being that this particular National Geographic Article lacks in both content and
credible authorship, its prominence in the final product of my research will be very minimal.
Perhaps I can use the very basic information it provides on the effects of climate change on
human health when I first introduce the topic myself, but nothing more than that.

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Climate Impacts on Human Health. Environmental Protection Agency, www.epa.gov/climateimpacts/climate-impacts-human-health. Accessed 16 October 2016.
Although this source is an internet article, the fact that it comes from the US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) website makes it a very reliable source at that. The article explains in
fairly great detail the impact that global warming has both already had and is projected to have
on human health, including the temperature-related impacts it has and will have, the impacts
from extreme weather events, the increase in water-related illnesses, the effects it will have on
mental health, the increase in vector-borne diseases, as well as the particular populations of
concern. The most unique information provided by the article is what populations, rather than
just what geographic regions, will be affected the most by climate change when it comes to
health. These populations include the disabled, children, the elderly, occupational groups such as
outdoor workers, paramedics, and firemen, those with pre-existing medical conditions, and
individuals of lower socioeconomic status. The article also has very useful visuals on how
temperature and rainfall are predicted to change in the coming years, which I can incorporate
into the final product of my research. This source is written in a very objective, scientific
manner, providing the reader, who is meant to either be a general member of the community or a
member of academia in some way, with lots of information on the effects of climate change on
human health. Due to the articles reliability and the detailed, useful information presented
throughout, this source will be very useful in discussing more ways in which human health will
be impacted by global warming as well as those who will be most affected.

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