Arruda 1

Victoria Arruda

Prof. Castro

Environmental Science

06/25/2000

Summary: Global Climate Change: The Potential Effects on Health

The following text “Global Climate Change: The Potential Effects on Health”, written by

Anthony J. McMichael and Andrew Haines approaches a different topic regarding global climate

change. The authors start the writing by giving a brief explanation of what’s leading climate

change to cause health problems. They explain that gases like methane and carbon dioxide are

accumulating in the bottommost atmospheric layer called troposphere. Those gases trap a heat

that will warm the surface of our planet. The talk about a prediction of how the weather could

change because of those events and why it is unpredictable. This phenomenon is called

anthropogenic climate, which in other words mean climate change caused by human activity.

They further explain that this condition means that the human impact surpassed the ecological

and physical limits of the biosphere. The consequences that this brings are health problems to

human population. Following this explanation, the writers explain how scientist made a model

based on scenarios. They explain the difficulties they face to create such complex model and all

of the factors that may affect this model and make it difficult to create. The final major topic

they address in this text are the direct effects that climate change has on health and well-being.

The authors explain that some direct effects mean change in both mortality and morbidity that

come from heatwaves and thermal stress both due to temperature increase. Other effects that they

address are respiratory issues caused by pollutants. They then list indirect effects such as food

poisoning, and transmission of pathogens through water. Those indirect factors are caused by a
 Arruda 2

change in ecological systems. Something that look unimportant to the eyes of a person such as a

change in temperature can turn out to be a much complex phenomenon that brings consequences

to both the environment and human health, those are the main ideas discussed in this text written

by Anthony J. McMichael and Andrew Haines.

 Arruda 3

Works Cited

McMichael J. A. and A. Haines. 1997. Global Climate Change: The Potential Effects on Health.

British Medical Journal. Vol. 315 pp. 805-809.