Newsroom Story Ideas

April Story Ideas: Addressing the Effects of Climate Change

Flowers have started popping up, the days are getting longer and spring is in the air. April 22nd is Earth Day and April story ideas center on the environmental health effects of a changing climate and positive ways you can encourage your readers to change the world around them. Although scientific understanding of climate change is still evolving, there is a pressing need to prepare for any potential health effects. CDC has identified 11 ways to lead the public health response to climate change and works everyday to accomplish these goals.

Floods, Heat Waves and Wildfires, Oh My!

As climates change, weather events like floods, hurricanes, droughts and heat waves could increase in their frequency and severity. According to the Red Cross, more than 250 million people are affected by such disasters each year (44 pages). Families are displaced when their home is engulfed by a rising river, children lose a grandparent after a heat wave sweeps through the city and a town looses a recreational spot following a wildfire that flies through a forest preserve. Injuries and drowning incidences increase when more rivers flood, ecosystems are disrupted when hurricanes constantly ravage the southeast coast and farmers feel a tightening around their wallets when drought causes a less-than-optimal crop season. You can provide your readers with tips to help them minimize their impact on the environment and prepare for extreme weather events if they occur.

• Climate change and extreme weather events
• Climate change and heat waves
• Preparing for a
  • Hurricane
  • Flood
  • Wildfire
  • Volcano

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Something is in the Air

Daisies are poking through the ground, bees are buzzing and the pollen count is off the chart. As global temperatures rise and more carbon dioxide is pumped into the air, plant metabolism and pollen production increase. The results? More time using an inhaler and less time outside getting ready for swimsuit season. Your readers need to know that with changes in climate come changes in how they should manage their health. Longer warm seasons coupled with higher producing flowers, grasses, molds and weeds lead to more opportunities for asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease sufferers to be sick. Help your readers fight back.

• Climate Change Effect on Air-Borne Allergens
• Asthma Surveillance Data
• National Institute of Health’s Allergic Diseases web page
• CDC’s Mold web page

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Exposed to Asbestos

Asbestos is a naturally occurring substance in the environment, just like oxygen, sulfur and gold. But unlike gold, which is lovely to wear, or the oxygen we need to breath, at certain concentrations and over a long period of time, asbestos can have severe health effects such as lung cancer, mesothelioma, and nonmalignant lung and pleural disorders, including asbestosis, pleural plaques, pleural thickening, and pleural effusions. Asbestos exposure can occur in homes, at the workplace or in our community. Help your readers find out what they can do to prevent exposure and get help if they think they have been exposed.

• Types of Asbestos Exposure
  • Libby Vermiculite
  • Naturally Occurring asbestos
  • World Trade Center asbestos
• Asbestos photos
• Summary Report: Exposure to asbestos-containing vermiculite from Libby, Montana, at 28 processing sites in the United States

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Buzzier Seasons Ahead

Does it feel like summer arrives a litte earlier and stays a little later each year? Is that anything to really complain about? If you don’t fancy mosquito bites that can lead to West Nile Virus or diarrhea due to Cryptosporidiosis, it might be. Despite the difficulties of predicting the incidence of insect or animal-borne diseases, scientists know that climate is one of the many variables known to affect the rates of these diseases. The potential for climate change to impact the range and incidence is unknown, but some of these diseases, such as Lyme disease and Hantavirus, show evidence of seasonality and the range of these diseases could change with a changing climate. Make sure your readers know all the information about enjoying the outdoors safely.

• Climate change and  insect and animal-borne diseases
• Insect borne diseases
• Tick and other animal-borne diseases
• How to prevent
  • Tick-borne diseases
  • Rabies in pets and humans
  • Insect-borne diseases

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Step by Step

When was the last time you could walk to work from home? Or take your children for a walk without having to pack and unpack twice? Walkable communities, communities where work, shops, schools, libraries, and churches are all within walking distance, might not be seen in your lifetime, but they are the wave of the future. CDC supports the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) rating system, a collaboration among the U.S. Green Building Council, the Congress for the New Urbanism, and the Natural Resources Defense Council, which is the first national standard for neighborhood design that promotes walkable communities. Such communities promote physical activity, improve air quality, lower the risk of vehicular injuries, increase the social connection among a community and reduce negative, manmade contributions to climate change.

• Healthy Community Design fact sheet (2 pages)
• Podcast: Walkable Communities
• CDC and LEED-ND (2 pages)

Coming Next Month

In May... find out how your genes might affect your health, what CDC is doing to prevent cavities and what you can do to protect yourself from Lyme Disease.

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