Ebola and Climate Change: Are Humans Responsible for the Severity of the Current Outbreak?

Newsweek ^ | August 12, 2014 | By Elijah Wolfson

[Oldeconomybuyer]

... In a study published in 2012, researchers asked national infectious disease experts in 30 different countries whether or not they thought climate change would affect infectious disease patterns in their countries. The majority agreed.

Nevertheless, it’s unclear whether these beliefs are driven by good science, or, as Malcolm Gladwank argued way back in 1995, a guilt-driven “idea of disease as a punishment for wickedness.”

It’s true that West Africa, where the latest and most catastrophic Ebola outbreak is currently raging, has faced unequivocal environmental changes in recent years. The International Food Policy Research Institute published a report in 2013, finding that in Sierra Leone (the epicenter of the outbreak), climate change has resulted in “seasonal droughts, strong winds, thunderstorms, landslides, heat waves, floods, and changed rainfall patterns.”

And there is, according to the World Health Organization, a recent global increase in infectious diseases that seems to correspond with rising global temperatures.

Because though modern society’s impact on the Earth’s environment may not result in an explosion in Ebola, it seems that it will almost certainly drive up rates of these other, far more dread diseases.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Morpheus2009]

Sort of like a left-wing Alex Jones. All about the fearmongering and postdiction business.

[tet68]

Because though modern society’s impact on the Earth’s environment may not result in an explosion in Ebola, it seems that it will almost certainly drive up rates of these other, far more dread diseases.

There are “other, far more dread diseases...”?

Well, at least we have THAT to look forward to.

[Smokin' Joe]

You’re Welcome, Alamo-Girl!