Change of climate and health

1. The world's climate system is an integral part of the complex life-supporting processes. Like other large systems, the global climate system is coming under pressure from human activities. Climate change affects the fundamental requirements for health – clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food and secure shelter. The climate varies naturally as well as in response to human influences, and, in turn, climate is only one of many determinants of population health. Today the human influence has attained a global scale. This reflects the recent rapid increase in population size, energy consumption, intensity of land use, international trade and travel, and other human activities.

2. Climate change occurs over decades or longer time-scales. Until now, changes in the global climate have occurred naturally, across centuries, because of various astronomical cycles, variations in solar energy output and volcanic activity. Over the past few decades it has become increasingly apparent that human actions are changing atmospheric composition, thereby causing global climate change. The Climate System Earth’s climate is determined by complex interactions between the Sun, oceans, atmosphere, land surface and biosphere. The Sun is the principal driving force for weather and climate.

3. Humans have known that climatic conditions¹ affect epidemic diseases from long before the role of infectious agents was discovered, late in the nineteenth century. Throughout the world, the prevalence of some diseases² and other threats to human health depend largely on local climate. Extreme temperatures can lead directly to loss of life, while climate-related disturbances in ecological systems, such as changes in the range of infective parasites, can indirectly impact the incidence of serious infectious diseases. Infectious agents vary greatly in size, type and mode of transmission. In addition, warm temperatures can increase air and water pollution, which in turn harm human health. Human health is strongly affected by social, political, economic, environmental and technological factors. The extent and nature of climate change impacts on human health vary by region, by the extent and duration of exposure to climate change itself and by society’s ability to adapt to the change. Human beings are exposed to climate change through changes in water, air, food quality and quantity, ecosystems, agriculture, and economy. Climate change may increase the risk of some infectious diseases, particularly those diseases that appear in warm areas and are spread by mosquitoes and other insects. These "vector-borne" diseases³ include malaria, dengue fever⁴, yellow fever, and encephalitis⁵.

4. Russia is also experiencing the impacts of climate change in the form of milder winters; melting permafrost⁶; changing precipitation patterns; the spread of disease; and increased incidence of drought⁷, flooding⁸, and other extreme weather events. Many of these observed climate impacts are having concrete, negative effects on Russians’ quality of life.

5. High temperatures raise the levels of ozone and other pollutants in the air that exacerbate cardiovascular and respiratory disease⁹. Extreme high air temperatures contribute directly to deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory disease, particularly among elderly people.

6. Many diarrheal diseases vary seasonally, suggesting sensitivity to climate. Major causes of diarrhea linked to heavy rainfall and contaminated water supplies.

7. Broadly¹⁰, a change in climatic conditions can have three kinds of health impacts:

• Those that are relatively direct, usually caused by weather extremes.

• The health consequences of various processes of environmental change and ecological disruption that occur in response to climate change.

• The diverse health consequences – traumatic, infectious, nutritional, psychological and others.

8. Climatologists forecast further warming, along with changes in precipitation and climatic variability, during the coming century and beyond. We need to learn more about the underlying complex causal relationships, and apply this information to the prediction of future impacts, using more complete, better validated, integrated, models.

Пояснения к тексту

1. climatic conditions – климатические условия

2. the prevalence of some diseases – преобладание некоторых болезней

3. “vector-borne” diseases – трансмиссивные болезни

4. dengue fever – лихорадка денге

5. encephalitis- энцефалит

6. melting permafrost – таяние вечной мерзлоты

7. drought – сухость воздуха

8. flooding - наводнение

9. to exacerbate ... disease – обострять ... болезнь

10. broadly – в широком смысле слова

Задание 1. Определите основную идею текста

The main idea of the text deals with ….

Варианты ответов:

а) the concept of the world's climate system;

b) author’s interest to the weather in different regions;

c) the influence of climate on human health;

d) the information about the change of climate in common;

Задание 2. Ответьте на вопросы в соответствии с содержанием текста:

a) What does the climate change affect?

b) Why have changes in the global climate occurred across centuries?

c) How is Russia experiencing the impacts of climate change?

d) What diseases contribute directly to quality of life?

e) What are the three kinds of health impacts?

Задание 3. Переведите 3-ий абзац текста, определяя в каждом предложении подлежащее и сказуемое.

TEXT 4

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