Health Impacts of Climate Change

                               The Health Threats of Climate Change

Health Impacts of Climate Change:
Changes in the greenhouse gas concentrations and other drivers alter the global climate and bring about myriad human health consequences. Environmental consequences of climate change are such as extreme heat waves, rising sea-levels, changes in precipitation resulting in flooding and droughts, intense hurricanes, and degraded air quality, affect directly and indirectly the physical, social, and psychological health of humans.  For instance, changes in precipitation are creating changes in the availability and quantity of water, as well as resulting in extreme weather events such as intense hurricanes and flooding.  Climate change can be a driver of disease migration, as well as exacerbate health effects resulting from the release of toxic air pollutants in vulnerable populations such as children, the elderly, and those with asthma or cardiovascular disease.
Certain adverse health effects can be minimized or avoided with sound mitigation and adaptation strategies. Strategies for mitigating and adapting to climate change can prevent illness and death in people now, while also protecting the environment and health of future generations.  Mitigation refers to actions being taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to enhance the sinks that trap or remove carbon from the atmosphere. Adaptation refers to actions being taken to lessen the impact on health and the environment due to changes that cannot be prevented through mitigation. Appropriate mitigation and adaptation strategies will positively affect both climate change and the environment, and thereby positively affect human health. Some adaptation activities will directly improve human health through changes in our public health and health care infrastructure.
Health Impacts
Climate change is expected to affect air quality through several pathways, including production and allergenicity of allergens and increase regional concentrations of ozone, fine particles, and dust. Some of these pollutants can directly cause respiratory disease or exacerbate existing conditions in susceptible populations, such as children or the elderly. Some of the impacts that climate change can have on air quality include:
·         Increase ground level ozone and fine particle concentrations, which can trigger a variety of reactions including chest pains, coughing, throat irritation, and congestion, as well as reduce lung function and cause inflammation of the lungs
·         Increase carbon dioxide concentrations and temperatures, thereby affecting the timing of aeroallergen distribution and amplifying the allergenicity of pollen and mold spores
·         Increase the frequency of droughts, leading to increased dust and particulate matter
Adaptation and Mitigation
·         Mitigating short-lived contamination species that both air pollutants and green house gases, such as ozone or black carbon. Examples include urban tree covers or rooftop gardens in urban settings
·         Decreasing the use of vehicle miles traveled to reduce ozone precursors
·         Utilizing alternative transportation options, such as walking or biking, which have the co-benefit of reducing emissions while increasing cardiovascular fitness and contributing to weight loss.  However, these activities also have the potential to increase exposure to harmful outdoor air pollutants, particularly in urban areas.
Heat-Related Morbidity and Mortality
Prolonged exposure to extreme heat can cause heat exhaustion, heat cramps, heat stroke, and death, as well as exacerbate preexisting chronic conditions, such as various respiratory, cerebral, and cardiovascular diseases.  These serious health consequences usually affect more vulnerable populations such as the elderly, children, and those with existing cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.  Socioeconomic factors, such as economically disadvantaged and socially isolated individuals, are also at risk from heat-related burdens.  As global temperatures rise and extreme heat events increase in frequency due to climate change we can expect to see more heat-related illnesses and mortality.  Public health systems need to be prepared for extreme events and responses will demand a concerted effort among the public health community, the medical establishment, emergency responses teams, the housing authority, and law enforcement in order to quickly identify and serve the populations vulnerable to extreme heat events.

Health Impacts
·         Increased temperatures and increase in extreme heat events cause heat exhausting, heat stroke, and death, especially in vulnerable populations.
·         High concentrations of buildings in urban areas cause urban heat island effect, generation and absorbing heat, making the urban center several degrees warmer than surrounding areas.
Mitigation and Adaptation
·         Heat early warning systems and proactive heat wave response plans
·         Increased air conditioning use
·         Decreased time spent outdoors during extreme heat events
·         Increased use of sun-shielding clothing

Vector borne Diseases
Vector borne diseases are infectious diseases whose transmission involves animal hosts or vectors.  Vector borne diseases, such as malaria, are those in which an organism, typically insects, ticks, or mites, carry a pathogen from one host to another, generally with increased harmfulness (virulence) of the pathogen in the vector. Vector borne diseases that are found in warmer climates and vulnerable due to global trade and travel.
Health Impacts
·         Changes in temperature and precipitation directly affect Vector borne diseases through pathogen-host interaction, and indirectly through ecosystem changes and species composition.
·         As temperatures increases vectors can spread into new areas that were previously too cold. For example, two mosquito vectors that carry malaria are now found at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Mitigation and Adaptation
·         Reducing greenhouse gas emissions to influence local ecological environment, thereby altering the life cycles of certain disease vectors and animals
·         Preserving forests and wetlands to affect ecology and transmission cycles
·         Developing and implementing early warning systems to reduce exposure to environmental hazards and limit susceptibility in exposed populations

The Lottery

                                         The Lottery

     
Throughout history, certain traditions and rituals have been able to dictate human behavior, even to the point where the person loses his sense of morality. The "lottery" of Shirley Jackson tells us the story of a small American city that was founded in the old half of the twentieth century. Outside, this colony seems pretty normal. He had about 300 people, most of whom were peasants. The chief of the post, Mr. Graves, was the chief of the city, only by Mr. Summers, who owned the local coal companies. But despite the picturesque atmosphere, this misleading quiet city has a unique place. Every year, on June 27th, a lottery is organized in the city. Despite the spelling, this lottery wins the individual far from being happy. This lottery, in which every member of the city must participate, determines which person is stoned by his fellow citizens. This horrible act is the result of a ritual that has been incorporated into society in previous generations. The inhabitants of the village had long forgotten the importance, the most details and the original intention of this ritual. She only remembered every June 27th, they wanted to have a lottery for the whole city, and brutally murdered the winner.

Perhaps one of the most powerful characteristics of tradition is its ability to evoke persistence among its followers. By the inhabitants of the city they were not interested in changing the smallest detail of the lottery. If Mr. Summers suggested having a new crate, because the flow had worsened a lot, the citizens refused to be unhappy because the crate should be made with pieces of the original crate, which was used when the the first settlers of the city lived in the area. Even in its climatic condition, this black box was a symbol of the impending Doom city, which awaited an unfortunate person each year. The villagers were also very reluctant to move out of wooden blocks to paper containers as a means of drawing for the lottery. However, with much perseverance from Mr. Summers, the Village people finally admitted because the city was grown too big for each piece of wood to fit into the crate. The villagers were also persistent in the electoral procedures of lottery tickets. Only in the rarest cases was a woman allowed to choose the film for her family; It was usual to work the husband, or a son who was old. This is shown when Jane Dunbar husband was unable to attend the lottery because of a broken leg. It was very obvious that Jane felt out of the place when she pulled out her ticket. The Watson family had the chance to have a son who was old enough to attract his father. The crowd favors this much more than a woman's drawing, as she was told to be glad to see that her mother has a husband to do it. The villagers were also very persistent that the lottery was still a tradition in the community. The lottery was so rooted in its culture that those who do not practise it were not civilians. The old man Warner compared the abolition of the lottery with life in the caves and refusal of work. The surrounding villages, which chose the lottery, were also called "pack of Young Fools". The old man Warner represents the pious followers of a tradition. Although they are not looking for leadership positions, they are determined that if things are practiced in any way over a longer period of time, then this should not be changed. The old man Warner was annoyed by the fact that Mr. Summers was comfortable with the residents as they went out for his lottery ticket because he believed it was inappropriate for the lottery, which was not held in a strict manner. He was also irritated by the concern of the Friends of Nancy Hutchinson in considering that she was the winner. Grace and compassion apparently had no place in the lottery.



The second and most important characteristic of this ritual is its dehumanizing effect. The winner of this lottery is stoned by his own city. Friends and family show extreme cruelty by making the blood thirst amount to stone one of their own. A few moments before the start of the lottery, Mrs. Hutchinson had a friendly conversation with Mrs. Delacroix. However, when Mrs. Hutchinson had been declared the winner of the lottery, all the previous illusions of friendship between the two had been extinguished. Mrs. Delacroix ran to her with the greatest stone she could find excited to kill the likelihood that, just the day before, she would have called friend. As troubling as it may be, it's not as confusing as betrayal among family members. It is clear that these families had no love for each other. Rather, they were just on each other as farmers who would reduce the likelihood that they chose for the lottery. The last words of Mr. Hutchinson to his wife were "shut up, Tesse." Mrs. Hutchinson, when she sees the opportunity to be elected, immediately tries to lessen her chances by asking her married daughter to also choose. Their children, instead of expressing their horror at their impending death, show pure cheer when they see their lives saved. Towards the end of the story, children and adults join the stoning of Mrs. Hutchinson. Even little Dave, who might have been as young as five years old, got pebbles to throw his mother. This shows the sensitization of the murder as the implants of the city in the youth. From the moment they can go, children are taught to join the murder of a person, either someone they do not know, or a member of their own family.


This short story illustrates how tradition has the power to influence our lives in such a way that we lose the ability to know what is right and wrong. These people were conditioned to kill a person every year, simply because it was the way it was always done. Although there are also favorable aspects of the ritual, they are not represented in short history. Jackson made a clear effort to show the reader how dangerous tradition can be.

DR. VIJAY BHATKAR

                                  DR. VIJAY BHATKAR


Dr. Vijay Bhatkar, The architect of India’s Information Technological revolution. Information technology has made the world smaller. The press of a button opens before us a vast ocean of information on innumerable subjects and domains. This dream became a reality in India through the efforts of Dr. Vijay Bhatkar, a computer scientist. He is the creator of India’s indigenous super computer.

Dr. K. R. Narayanan had suggested the name of Dr. Bhatkar for realizing the dream of the late Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi, of indigenously building a supercomputer. Dr. Bhatkar did not let him down. Out of this inspiration was formed the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) and the development of Param, India’s first supercomputer.

Dr. Bhatkar was born on 11 October, 1946 in Muramba in Akola district (near Murtijapur) to a highly educated couple. He completed his schooling in Murtijapur in a school established by Saint Gadgebaba. He was in the merit list of the board exams and acquired his degree in engineering at the age of 18. He acquired his M.Tech from the Sayajirao University in Baroda and then got his PhD from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi at the age of 26.
He worked for many years in the electronics domain as the Director of Celtron. Through this company, he worked on many major computerization projects which included the Kolkata metro project, traffic management in metros, defence projects for the Defence as well as several government departments, electricity control etc. He was also a member of the scientific advisory committee for the central government. Later, at CDAC, he helped develop GIST, the multilingual technology because of which software could be used in various Indian languages.
As immersed as he is in science and technology, his interests also span diverse subjects like Indian culture, Vedas, Upanishads and saint literature and spirituality. Inspired by the thoughts of Swami Vivekananda, he left CDAC to involve himself in the Education to Home project which aims to make education more accessible to the students.
He was bestowed with many awards while handling posts on national and international level. The central government awarded him the Padmashri and the Maharashtra government awarded him the Maharashtra Bhushan award. He has written more than seventy research papers and has authored eight books.
Influenced by the ideologies of Saint Gadgebaba at a young age, he strives today to find a balance between science and spirituality. Wanting all the religious centres in India to be centres of knowledge too, he has started to work on this project from Alandi.
Dr. Bhatkar is still proficiently active today, at the same time studying European cultures and working towards his spiritual quests too. He is also a role model for the youth in India.