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Atmospheric changes impact the environment in dramatic ways such as flooding.
As the atmosphere heats up, the risks to human health pop up like a mosquito-borne virus. From the West Nile virus that found its way to New York last year to an epidemic of cholera, malaria and Rift Valley fever spawned by flooding in the Horn of Africa, the evidence of global warming on human health is everywhere, according to Paul Epstein, associate director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School. As the atmosphere has warmed over the past century, droughts in arid areas have persisted longer, and massive bursts of precipitation have become more common. It may kill fewer people in one fell swoop than a raging flood or an extended drought, but once it takes root in a community, it often defies eradication and can invade other areas. This shortfall has serious implications for the rest of the world, Epstein said.