One Health and Climate Change

Catalog description

One Health is the concept that human, animal, and environmental health are inextricably linked. It provides a framework to inspire interdisciplinary problem solving to complex health problems. Climate change threatens to alter many aspects of the earth and in doing so will harm the health of human, animals, and the environment in a variety of ways. In this course we will first explore how climate change will affect One Health from disruption of agricultural systems, impacts of extreme weather events, the spread of zoonotic diseases, to the direct impacts of living on a warmer planet. We will then investigate the leading approaches to solve these impacts and learn how public health professionals, veterinarians, scientists, architects, physicians, engineers, and others are working to mitigate the negative health outcomes. Finally, students will be asked to contemplate what they can do in their own fields to address the impact of the climate crisis using a One Health framework.