The recently released UK government report compiled by respected economist Sir Nicholas Stern (summary here) shows quite compellingly that ignoring climate change or even intentionally suppressing references to it, is going to cost us big time. He projects worldwide economic conditions worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s, driven by widespread drought, the spread of disease and damage to coastal areas from rising ocean levels, all in the next 20-40 years.
Tracking the news on climate change and warming, as I do daily, gets increasingly alarming, especially as our (US) interest in doing anything about it seems to wax and wane with the price of gasoline. I am wondering why Al Gore doesn’t broadcast his film, An Inconvenient Truth, on PBS and freely distribute DVDs to schools. It would serve two valuable purposes: raise the alarm and put Gore into the spotlight as I believe we need a President who will make this issue the focus of their presidency- unlike this idiotic debacle in Iraq.

You can now see a map of worldwide disease outbreaks that is updated hourly. It utilizes a mashup of Google Maps and health info from around the world.

Climate change is widely expected to affect disease outbreaks as areas become wetter, drier, more hospitable to insects and animals that transmit disease and as local populations begin moving away from unhealthy areas, carrying disease with them.

Apocalyptic.

The other day on NPR, I heard the first serious discussion of storing food and water in case of a breakdown in services or the need to stay in the house in the event of an outbreak of an infectious disease. These potential outbreaks are another indicator of climate change.
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