GEOGRAPHY 480

Environmental Geography, Climate, and Health

Spring, 2009

Dr. Jonathan D. Mayer Professor, Departments of Epidemiology, Geography, Medicine (Div of Infectious Diseases). (Allergy and Infectious Disease), Family Medicine, Global Health, and Health Services

Tel: (206) 543-7110

Email: jmayer@u.washington.edu

Course listproc: geog480a_sp09@u.washington.edu (remember that

anything posted here goes to the whole class)

Rooms 412-C Smith Hall and Health Sciences F-259 (Dept of Epidemiology)

Office hours: By appt.

Course Rationale:

People, societies, and the environment are inextricably linked in both obvious and more obscure ways. At one time, some geographers argued that the physical and biological environments determined the characteristics of people and cultures. This “environmental determinism” is a concept that has been discarded, and one that caused the demise of some major geography departments. Nonetheless, the environment obviously influences people and cultures. In turn, people and groups modify the environment through agriculture, water projects, urbanization, and other phenomena. Thus, the consensus in the social sciences generally and in geography specifically is that the human-environment linkages are myriad, complex, and frequently hidden. At a time when there are tremendous geographical inequalities in health status, life expectancy, and patterns of mortality, the relations between the environment and health are of paramount importance. It is from this realization that this course is offered.

Students are expected to have some familiarity with epidemiologic study design (case-control, prospective cohort, etc.) and other epidemiologic concepts, and/or statistical analysis. We will discuss and review basic study design as appropriate, but students must not be beginners. To put it another way, students must be able to understand original research articles, many of which are quantitative.

Course goal:

The main goal of this course is to demonstrate and investigate the many ways of appreciating how human-environment relations are expressed in the context of health and disease. The focus will be both local and global. This course draws attention to the relationships between geography generally and medical geography specifically on the one hand, and environmental studies, social analysis, and other biological, physical, and social sciences generally. Thus, medical geography is at the intersection of the social. physical, and biological sciences. We must realize that individual health should be seen in the context of public health, and that public health should be seen in the broader contexts of social, physical, and biological phenomena, in their complex and frequently hidden and unanticipated interactions.

My educational beliefs:

Students are inherently curious and seek to understand the world surrounding them and the world in which they live. This course, and my teaching, is both aimed at encouraging the critical analysis of the human-health-environment relationships. This understanding and analysis must come from a solid knowledge of the factual, scientific, and conceptual bases from which such understanding and thinking must come. Some students will find that this course will contribute directly to their professional development, while others will find that it provides a basis for understanding issues of health and disease as citizens in a democratic society, in which we can all help to determine the course of society. My own role in this course will be multifaceted. Sometimes I will serve as an authority on the subjects that we will cover. At other times, I will be a facilitator of inquiry and debate. I hope that I will always be a resource for your own interests and investigations as we proceed through the course.

A word on academic honesty and integrity is in order. We will adhere strictly to the rules of the University of Washington and the academic community in prohibiting plagiarism, cheating, and academic dishonesty. These provisions are spelled out in detail at the following website, with which all students are expected to be familiar. Each year in this class, several cases of cheating and plagiarism, unfortunately, are discovered. To prevent this, you must read the contents of the following website:

http://depts.washington.edu/grading/issue1/honesty.htm

I assume that each and every student is familiar with the contents of this web page. No excuses will be accepted for academic dishonesty.

By submitting a piece of written work for the course, we assume that you have read the webpage above, are familiar with the University’s policies on academic honesty, and agree to abide by them. Thus, no excuses for plagiarism or cheating will be accepted and I will check each paper.

Grading:

Grades will be based on three essays/response papers, to be spaced throughout the quarter. These will require synthesis of readings and class materials, plus some (but not a burdensome) amount of additional research in the scientific literature. Dates will be announced next week after I have ascertained the level of knowledge and background of

students. Each of these will be worth 30% of your grade. Participation, ascertained in part by a sign-in sheet for each class session, will account for the remaining 10%.

Paper 1 30%

Paper 2 30%

Paper 3 30%

Participation 10%

Reading:

Joan L. Aron and Jonathan A. Patz, eds. Ecosystem Change and Public Health: A Global Perspective. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. Hereafter referred to as “Aron and Patz.”

National Research Council. Under the Weather: Climate, Ecosystems, and Infectious Disease. Washington: National Academy Press, 2001. Hereafter referred to as “Under the Weather.” Available on-line for free at:

http://books.nap.edu/books/0309072786/html/index.html

Eric Klinenberg. Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Jonathan Harr, A Civil Action. New York: Vintage Books, 1995.

Devra Davis, When Smoke Ran Like Water: Tales of Environmental Deception and the Battle Against Pollution. New York: Basic Books, 2002.

Gary D. Friedman, Primer of Epidemiology. New York: McGraw Hill, 1994. This book is optional, but we will be referring to many of the concepts in here.

Some original scientific articles, to be announced

COURSE OUTLINE

Week 1 (March 30) —Concepts of Health and Disease I: Global Health Problems

Introductory films/videos/DVDs

Week 2 (April 6) Concepts of Health, Disease, and Global Environmental Change

Aron and Patz, ch. 1, “Information on Sources of Global Change;” pp. 3-16; ch. 2 “Epidemiological Study Designs,” pp. 17-59.

Week 3 (April 13) --Health in an Ecological Framework: Global Change

Aron and Patz, ch. 6 “Human Populations in the Shared Environment,” pp. 156-187; ch. 8 “An Earth Science Perspective on Global Change,” pp. 233-50, :ch. 10 “Ecology and Infectious Disease,” pp. 283-324.

Assignment 1 due Wednesday April 15

Week 4 (April 20)

Water Resources and Health

Aron and Patz, “Water Resources Management,” pp. 251-280; ch. 14, “Too Little, Too Much: How the Quantity of Water Affects Human Health,” pp. 409-426.

Week 5 (April 27)

Case Studies in Environmental Change and Health: Cholera and Malaria

Aron and Patz, ch. 11 “Cholera and Global Ecosystems.” Pp. 327-328; ch 12, “Malaria and Global Ecosystem Change,” pp. 353-378

Begin reading Klinenberg

Week 6/7 (May 4, May 11)

Global Climate, Climate Change, and Health

Aaron and Patz, ch. 7 “The Changing Chemistry of the Earth’s Atmosphere,” pp. 188-232; ch 13, “Global Climate Change and Air Pollution: Interatction and their Effects on Human Health,” pp. 379-408; National Research Council, Under the Weather, entire book. May be downloaded from National Academy Press. Also required are the health portions of the IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change), which may be downloaded from the IPCC website: http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/ar4-wg2.htm

Finish Klinenberg

Global Warming and Mortality: Direct Effects

Readings to be announced

Assignment 2: Due Wednesday, May 13

Week 7/8 (May 11, May 18):