scholarly journals Projected expansion in climatic suitability for Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas Disease, and five widespread Triatoma species by 2070: the role of climate change on infectious diseases

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Nichols ◽  
Chris J Butler ◽  
Wayne D Lord ◽  
Michelle L Haynie

The vector-borne parasite Trypanosoma cruzi infects seven million individuals globally and causes chronic cardiomyopathy and gastrointestinal diseases. Recently, T. cruzi has emerged in the southern United States. It is crucial for disease surveillance efforts to detail regions that present favorable climatic conditions for T. cruzi and vector establishment. We used MaxEnt to develop an ecological niche model for T. cruzi and five widespread Triatoma vectors based on 546 published localities within the United States. We modeled regions of current potential T. cruzi and Triatoma distribution and then regions projected to have suitable climatic conditions by 2070. Regions with suitable climatic conditions for the study organisms are predicted to increase within the United States. Our findings agree with the hypothesis that climate change will facilitate the expansion of tropical diseases throughout temperate regions and suggest climate change will influence the expansion of T. cruzi and Triatoma vectors in the United States.

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 259-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christy Smith ◽  
Jessica Terman

Scholars and practitioners have come to understand the important role of local governments in the causes and effects of climate change. The literature has examined both the substantive and symbolic determinants of urban sustainability policies in addition to the implementation issues associated with those policies. At the heart of these policies is the idea that local governments have the desire and ability to engage in socially and environmentally responsible practices to mitigate climate change. While important, these studies are missing a key component in the investigation of local government involvement in sustainability policies: government purchasing power. This study examines the effect of administrative professionalism and interest group presence on the determinants of green procurement in the understudied context of counties in the United States.


Insects ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha Wisely ◽  
Gregory Glass

Globally, vector-borne diseases are an increasing public health burden; in the United States, tick-borne diseases have tripled in the last three years. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recognizes the need for resilience to the increasing vector-borne disease burden and has called for increased partnerships and sustained networks to identify and respond to the most pressing challenges that face vector-borne disease management, including increased surveillance. To increase applied research, develop communities of practice, and enhance workforce development, the CDC has created five regional Centers of Excellence in Vector-borne Disease. These Centers are a partnership of public health agencies, vector control groups, academic institutions, and industries. This special issue on tick and tick-borne disease surveillance is a collection of research articles on multiple aspects of surveillance from authors that are affiliated with or funded by the CDC Centers of Excellence. This body of work illustrates a community-based system of research by which participants share common problems and use integrated methodologies to produce outputs and effect outcomes that benefit human, animal and environmental health.


Author(s):  
Henry Shue

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change adopted in Rio de Janeiro at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in June 1992 establishes no dates and no dollars. No dates are specified by which emissions are to be reduced by the wealthy states, and no dollars are specified with which the wealthy states will assist the poor states to avoid an environmentally dirty development like our own. The convention is toothless because throughout the negotiations in the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee during 1991 to 1992, the United States played the role of dentist: whenever virtually all the other states in the world (with the notable exceptions of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait) agreed to convention language with teeth, the United States insisted that the teeth be pulled out. The Clinton administration now faces a strategic question: should the next step aim at a comprehensive treaty covering all greenhouse gases (GHGs) or at a narrower protocol covering only one, or a few, gases, for example, only fossil-fuel carbon dioxide (CO2)? Richard Stewart and Jonathan Wiener (1992) have argued for moving directly to a comprehensive treaty, while Thomas Drennen (1993) has argued for a more focused beginning. I will suggest that Drennen is essentially correct that we should not try to go straight to a comprehensive treaty, at least not of the kind advocated by Stewart and Wiener. First I would like to develop a framework into which to set issues of equity or justice of the kind introduced by Drennen. It would be easier if we faced only one question about justice, but several questions are not only unavoidable individually but are entangled with one another. In addition, each question can be given not simply alternative answers but answers of different kinds. In spite of this multiplicity of possible answers to the multiplicity of inevitable and interconnected questions, I think we can lay out the issues fairly clearly and establish that commonsense principles converge to a remarkable extent upon what ought to be done, at least for the next decade or so.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 194-210
Author(s):  
Alexandra L. Beauchamp ◽  
Kimberly Rios

With controversies surrounding numerous science topics, including vaccinations and climate change, science skepticism in the United States is of growing concern. Some skepticism of science may stem from the perceived association between science and atheism, as well as stereotypes of religious individuals as prosocial. Three studies examine how scientists’ religious affiliation (or lack thereof) influences perceptions of their warmth and trustworthiness among Christian participants. (Study 1 also includes atheist participants for comparison purposes.) Whereas atheist participants evaluate atheist scientists as more trustworthy than scientists from various religious groups (e.g. Christian, Jewish, and Muslim), Christian participants consistently evaluate atheist scientists as less trustworthy and less warm than religious scientists, and not exclusively Christian scientists. These effects are explained, in part, by Christian participants’ perceptions that atheist scientists are less motivated by prosociality compared to religiously affiliated scientists and, as Study 3 demonstrates, have a negative association with trust in scientists in general.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 9823
Author(s):  
Ulrich Müller ◽  
Dawson R. Hancock ◽  
Tobias Stricker ◽  
Chuang Wang

To successfully cope with global challenges such as climate change or loss of biodiversity, it will require a substantial change in the ways societies make use of the natural resources of our planet. Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is expected to support the transformation of societies towards more sustainable ways of thinking, working, and living. Although there is a broad range of literature on ESD, little is known about the role of school leadership in ESD. However, leadership is crucial for the implementation of ESD in schools. This article gives a short overview of the status of ESD within Germany, Macau, and the United States and a literature review on leadership for ESD in schools. It reports on a study that seeks to investigate what principals do in Germany, Macau, and the United States; specifically, what management strategies they use and which competences they need to successfully establish ESD in their schools.


2013 ◽  
Vol 40 (12) ◽  
pp. 1173-1183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiang Joshua Li ◽  
Leslie Mills ◽  
Sue McNeil ◽  
Nii O. Attoh-Okine

Given anticipated climate change and its inherent uncertainty, a pavement could be subjected to different climatic conditions over its life and might be inadequate to withstand future environmental stresses beyond those currently considered during pavement design. This paper incorporates climate change effects into the mechanistic–empirical (M-E) based pavement design to explore potential climate change and its uncertainty on pavement design and performance. Three important questions are addressed: (1) How does pavement performance deteriorate differently with climate change and its uncertainty? (2) What is the risk if climate change and its uncertainty are not considered in design? and (3) How do pavement designers respond and incorporate this change into M-E design ? Three test sites in the United States are examined and results demonstrate a robust and effective approach to integrate climate change into pavement design as an adaptation strategy.


The Forum ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 367-388
Author(s):  
Jennifer Hoewe ◽  
Kathryn Cramer Brownell ◽  
Eric C. Wiemer

Abstract Considering that cable news has become a primary source of political information for many Americans, this article examines the role and impact of Fox News in the United States, particularly as it compares to other news outlets. We begin by offering a historical analysis of Fox News’ formation and growth in popularity, including a review of existing scholarship on the network’s impact on news consumers. Prior research as well as an additional nationally-representative dataset reveals that two policy areas are particularly potent among Fox News’ consumers: immigration and climate change. Additionally, scholars have found initial evidence for the role of Fox News in shaping its viewers’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. We then consider the cognitive processing utilized by news consumers, explaining how it may differ among individuals who opt to consume Fox News and those who get news from other sources. We conclude by reviewing why three specific areas—immigration, climate change, and COVID-19—resonate so strongly with Fox News consumers.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document