PH 303 Course Syllabus:
Climate Change, the Environment and Human Health
Lectures will be held twice a week Tuesday and Thursday
in Lapham Hall Room 250.
Course Instructor:
Michael D. Laiosa, Ph.D
Assistant Professor
Office Hours by appointment:
In Lapham Hall Room 225A
Phone: 229-2279
Email: Laiosa@uwm.edu
Please include “PH 303” in the subject heading of all email correspondence
to facilitate response time.
Course Description:
Climate Change, the Environment and Human Health challenges students to
acquire knowledge about and be able to identify ways in which climate change
adversely affects human health globally, nationally and locally.
Credits (3):
Successful completion of this course will result in attainment of 3 credit hours to
one’s transcript. In accordance with University policy, one credit hour is
equivalent to three hours engagement with the material per week to include in
class instruction, discussions, assessments and outside activities such as
reading, writing, group projects and other learning activities. Thus, for this three
credit course, students should plan on spending 2½ hours of time in class plus a
minimum of 6½ hours out of class per week on study, readings, and projects that
will facilitate acquisition of critical thinking skills necessary to attain the learning
objectives.
Prerequisites:
Students should have taken one of the following courses or obtain permission
from the instructor:
PH 101, CES 210, BioSci 150, Global 201, GeoSci 100, Geog 120, Geog 125,
General Education Requirements (GER):
Successful completion of PH 703 satisfies the Natural Sciences GER based on
attainment of competencies described below.
Why take PH 303?
As a society in the 21st Century facing climate change, “…We are stuck between
the impossible and the unthinkable. … For the rest of your life, your job is to
make the impossible possible.” – David Roberts
Learning Objectives:
By the end of the course, students should be able to:
1) Identify at least five types of global changes that are evidence of a
changing climate and use at least two publicly available surveillance
databases that track these measurements.
2) Describe the life cycle of a global, national, and local zoonotic infectious
disease and identify ways in which climate change, urbanization and
environmental degradation make the disease more or less likely to impact
human health.
3) Characterize the impacts of climate change on chronic diseases and
identify the populations who are most susceptible to these impacts.
4) Debate the pros and cons of different types of adaptation and mitigation
strategies that communities and nations may deploy to combat the worst
effects of climate change.
GER Natural Science Competencies:
Attainment of the Natural Science GER definition (a) and criteria (b) 1, 3, & 5, will
be achieved by students who upon course completion will be able to:
1) Understand Natural Scientific processes that include geochemical and
geophysical processes such as ocean currents, the water cycle, the
carbon cycle, and thermodynamics.
2) Explain how these processes impact biological systems such as
agriculture, infectious disease transmission and human health.
3) Explain data on the effects of changing C02 levels on complex processes
including but not limited to:
a. biological processes such as plant growth;
b. geochemical changes to ocean pH;
c. changing terrestrial temperatures on disease transmission;
d. impacts of air pollutants on the cardio-respiratory system.
4) Discuss how the ethical concept of social and environmental justice
predicts the health burdens of climate change and how this knowledge
can be leveraged toward solutions that benefit all members of society.
5) Demonstrate Social and Environmental responsibility including civic
knowledge and engagement locally and globally through ethical reasoning
and action in fulfillment of the UW System shared learning goals.
Required Text:
Climate Change and Human Health. Risks and Responses
A.J. McMichael et al.
World Health Organization (publisher)
Available online in print form for less than $10.00 (with shipping) or download for
free at:
http://www.alnap.org/resource/7392
Additional Resources:
In addition to the required text, additional readings will be provided to D2L from
the following sources:
The 5th Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report, due out in 2014
Fevered: Why a Hotter Planet Will Hurt Our Health -- and how we can save
ourselves
by Linda Marsa
Rodale Books (August 6, 2013)
Changing Planet, Changing Health: How the Climate Crisis Threatens Our Health
and What We Can Do about It
by Paul R. Epstein
University of California Press (June 12, 2012)
Green Cities: Urban Growth and the Environment
by Matthew E. Kahn
Brookings Institution Press (September 1, 2006)
Climate Change and Global Poverty: A Billion Lives in the Balance?
Lael Brainard (Editor)
Brookings Institution Press; 1st edition, edition (July 16, 2009)
Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts:
(2011)
http://www.wicci.wisc.edu
Course Outline:
The conceptual organization of this course generally follows the following
diagram on the interdependence of human health on a sustainable environment:
To gain a better appreciation of this interdependence the course has been
divided into four modules that build on one another creating a comprehensive
understanding of the various ecosystem factors that are changing due to human
activities and how those changes impact human health now and in the future.
The following outline of readings and activities will facilitate student learning and
acquisition of course objectives in the broad interdisciplinary public health
discipline of environmental health:
Module 1: Environmental Change
Week 1: Introductions and Expectations.
Read: McMichael, chapter 1, p1-15.
Group activity 1 – How to make group work fair for everyone.
Week 2: C02, fossil fuels, and global terrestrial and ocean temperatures
Read: McMichael, chapter 2, p18-40.
Read: 2014 IPCC Report “Summary for Policy makers”
Week 3: Oceanic pH, coral bleaching, and fish overharvesting
Read: Epstein chapter 6
Watch Jeremy Jackson Ted Talk online (18 minutes)
Read: IPCC Report Chapter 5 “Costal Systems and low lying areas”
Group activity 2 – Sustainable Fisheries regulations and reporting websites.
Week 4: Food systems and food insecurity
Read: IPCC Report Chapter 7 “Food security and food production systems”
Read: Epstein chapter 5
Group activity 3 – Food group life cycle analysis.
Module 2: Climate, the Environment and Infectious Disease
Week 5-6: Zoonotic infectious diseases and climate
Read: McMichael Chapter 5 – “Impacts on health of climate extremes”
Read: Epstein Chapter 2 and 3.
Group activity 4 – CDC influenza hotspot analysis.
Week 6: From Global to local. Potential changes in infectious disease
distribution in Wisconsin and Upper Midwest.
Read: McMichael Chapter 6 – “Climate change and infectious diseases”
Read: Wisconsin Initiative on Climate change impacts chapter 1.
Week 7: Review session and Mid-term exam
Module 3: Climate, the Environment and Chronic Disease
Week 8: Air pollution, ozone, and asthma
Read: McMichael Chapter 8 – “Urban Areas”
Group activity 5 - EPA Air pollution Maps
Week 9: Social and Environmental Justice of Climate Change
Read: Epstein Chapter 4
Read: Brainard Chapter 2-3
Group activity 6 – Pollution and Poverty Map analysis.
Module 4: Adaptation and Mitigation
Week 10: Energy Wedges to reduce C02 emmissions. Identification,
quantification and enforcement.
Read: IPCC report Chapter 14-15 – “Adaptation needs and options”
“Adaptation planning and opportunities”
Group activity 7 – Calculating the wedge.
Week 11: Game Theory in the Climate Debate
Read: Epstein Chapter 11 and 12
Group activity 8 – Carbon Tax analysis
Week 12: Emergency Preparedness in a Warming Climate:
Read: McMichael Chapter 11 – “Adaptation and adaptive capacity in the public
health context”
Watch: David Robert’s Ted Talk
Group activity 9 – Create a disaster plan
Week 13: Policy change
Read: McMichael Chapter 12 – “From science to policy: developing responses to
climate change”
Group Activity 10 – Debate market based versus regulation based approach.
Week 14: Climate Change in the Badger State and What to do about it?
Read: WICCIA report Chapter 8-9 – “Implementing Adaptation and Moving
Forward”
Week 15: Student Presentations
Week 16: Final Exam
Grading:
Reading quizzes
In class activities
Mid-Term Exam
Term Paper and
Presentation
Final Exam
Total
Percentage of Final Grade:
10%
20%
15%
30%
25%
100%
For this course, grades will be based on the following scale:
Percent
94 – 100%
90 – 93%
87 – 89%
84 – 86%
80 – 83%
77 – 79%
74 – 76%
70 – 73%
67 – 69%
64 – 66%
60 – 63%
< OR = 59%
Letter Grade
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD+
D
DF
Reading Quizzes:
Each week, there will be a D2L quiz designed to test your understanding of key
concepts from the readings. Quiz must be completed prior to the first class
session of each week. There will be no reading quizzes during the week of the
Mid-term or student presentations.
In class Activities:
There will be 10 in class activities throughout the semester to be done in groups
of two to three students. Activities range from small group discussions and
thought questions to basic analysis of data on various public health databases
and websites. Activities are denoted on the class schedule under the heading
Group Activity. Materials will be explained on the day of the activity and
submission of the results from the activity will be due at the end of class.
Activities will be held on Thursdays unless otherwise announced by email and in
class the previous week.
Review Sessions:
There will be two review sessions to permit additional discussion and integration
of the different topics covered. The first will be during week 7 with the review
session being held during our Tuesday class and the Mid-term to be held during
the Thursday class session.
The second review session will be during our second class session of Week 14.
Review sessions will be open ended with the format being student-initiated
questions and answers provided by the instructor. Questions may be submitted
to D2L in advance of the review session if students prefer.
Term Paper:
Students will choose a topic in environmental sustainability and write an 8-12
page term paper. The paper must research and discuss the following:
1) Statement of the problem.
2) Evidence demonstrating the scope of the problem.
3) Implications of the problem on public health with supporting evidence.
4) Achievable Solutions “you can sell” to all stakeholders.
The term paper should include at least 10 references with proper in text citations.
We strongly encourage you to use a reference manager program such as
endnote (available for purchase), or Refworks (free web/cloud based program)
available through the UWM library. At least half of the references should be from
the primary literature (peer-reviewed journal articles). The solutions section
should be a presentation of various mitigation strategies you have uncovered in
your research. However, you should think about obstacles to the solutions (big
business, anti-government regulation, etc), and consider ways these solutions
can be packaged so that the public will buy into the implementation.
Format: Please use Arial font, 12pt, double spacing. 1 inch margins top and
bottom. 1 inch margins right and left.
Important Term Paper Due dates:
Topic: (5 points) One paragraph covering the chosen topic is Due to Dropbox by
class time on Tuesday of Week 3.
Outline: (10 points) Two page outline of the term paper covering the four primary
sections of the paper (problem statement, evidence of problem, public health
connection, and solutions). Due to dropbox by class time on Thursday of Week 6.
Rough Draft: (20 points) Rough draft of paper with references is due by class
time on Thursday Week 9.
Final Draft: (45 points) Final draft due to dropbox by class time on Tuesday
session of Week 14.
In addition to the written paper, students will be expected to present their
research during class time during week 15. Each student will have 10 minutes
for a presentation, with emphasis placed on the solution portion of the topic.
Draft Presentation: (5 points) Draft of powerpoint presentation due to dropbox
by Thursday of Week 14.
Final Presentation (15 points) 10 minute oral presentations will be given during
Week 15 during class time.
All assignments are due at the start of class time. 5% reduction for every day
late starting with class time
Assessment of student attainment of GER Natural Science Competencies:
Throughout the course, you will be given group activities, and individual
quizzes designed to facilitate your attainment of the course learning objectives
and GER competencies. You’re attainment of these competencies will then be
individually assessed on questions on the mid-term and final exam and through a
careful review of you’re term paper and associated presentation.
The following table provides information on the critical thinking skills and
scientific discussion points you need to make in order to demonstrate
accomplishment of the course general education requirements:
Course competencies 1&2 encompass Natural Science learning outcome 1 and
will be assessed through the use of weekly group activities that will prepare
students for questions on the mid-term and final exams.
Furthermore, attainment of the Natural Science Core competencies will be
assessed individually on the term paper using the following rubric for the paper:
Rubric for acquisition of Natural Science General Education Requirements through careful evaluation of a term paper:
Term paper
45 points
GER Competencies
8 points
1) Understand Natural
Scientific processes that
include geochemical and
geophysical processes such
as ocean currents, the water
cycle, the carbon cycle, and
thermodynamics.
Comprehensive description
of the geophysical or
geochemical phenomenon
impacted by the
sustainability issue of the
student's choosing
8 points
2) Explain how these
processes impact biological
systems such as agriculture,
infectious disease
transmission and human
health.
3) Explain data on the
effects of changing C02
levels on complex
processes including but not
limited to: a. biological
processes such as plant
growth;
b. geochemical changes to
ocean pH;
c. changing terrestrial
temperatures on disease
transmission;
d. impacts of air pollutants
on the cardio-respiratory
system
4) Discuss how the ethical
concept of social and
environmental justice
predicts the health burdens
of climate change and how
this knowledge can be
leveraged toward solutions
that benefit all members of
society.
Detailed description of how
the physical environment
change described in the
paper impacts a biological
system in general and
human health specifically.
Overall Writing Quality
6 points
Detailed description of how
analytical data collected on
changing C02 levels impacts
a specific geochemical,
geophysical or biological
proces with understanding of
limitations of the inherent
uncertainty in the data.
Detailed description of how
analytical data collected on
changing C02 levels
impacts a specific
geochemical, geophysical
or biological proces with no
mention of limitations of
the inherent uncertainty in
the data.
8 points
6 points
Proposed solution to the
sustainability problem takes
a balanced and reasoned
approach that factors in all
stakeholders and strives to
create a framework that can
win broad community/public
support.
5 points
4 points
Acknowledgement of
how the physical
Brief description of how the environment change
physical environment
described in the paper
change described in the
impacts a biological
paper impacts a biological system in general and
system in general and
human health
human health specifically. specifically.
6 points
Careful analysis of the social
and environmental justice
considerations of both the
problem and proposed
solution.
Point values:
4 points
Acknowledgement of
Brief description of the
the geophysical or
geophysical or geochemica geochemical process
processl impacted by the impacted by the
sustainability issue of the sustainability issue of
student's choosing
the student's choosing
8 points
8 points
5) Demonstrate Social and
Environmental responsibility
including civic knowledge
and engagement locally and
globally through ethical
reasoning and action in
fulfillment of the UW System
shared learning goals.
6 points
Describes potential social
and environmental justice
considerations of both the
problem and proposed
solution.
6 points
Proposed solution to the
sustainability problem
takes a balanced and
reasoned approach that
factors in all stakeholders
but falls short of a "WinWin" solution.
4 points
4 points
2 points
Brief comment that a
geophysical or
geochemical process is
impacted by the
sustainability issue of the
student's choosing
0 points
No information
about the
geophysical or
geochemical
process impacted
by the sustainability
issue.
2 points
0 points
No information of
how the physical
environment
Brief comment of how the change described
physical environment
in the paper
change described in the
impacts a biological
paper impacts a biological system in general
system in general and
and human health
human health specifically. specifically.
2 points
0 points
No information on
any analytical data
Brief description of how
collected on
analytical data
Brief comment of how
changing C02
collected on changing analytical data collected
levels impacts a
C02 levels impacts a
on changing C02 levels
specific
specific geochemical, impacts a specific
geochemical,
geophysical or
geochemical, geophysical geophysical or
biological process.
or biological process.
biological process.
4 points
Brief description of the
social and
environmental justice
considerations of both
the problem and
proposed solution.
4 points
Proposed solution to
the sustainability
problem seems to
favor certain
stakeholders over
others and is over
reliant on a regulatory
approach that is
unlikely to gain broad
buy-in from the public.
2 points
2 points
Brief comment on the
social and environmental
justice considerations of
both the problem and
proposed solution.
2 points
0 points
No information on
the social and
environmental
justice
considerations of
both the problem
and proposed
solution.
0 points
Proposed solution to the
sustainability problem fails
to acknowledge the
complexity of multiple
stakeholders being
impacted by the proposed No solution is
changes.
offered.
1 point
0 points
Very poor writing
and failure to seek
Numerous spelling
advice from either
and/or grammatical
the UWM writing
Well written and organized errors. A few
center or Instructor
Well written and organized
with no more than two
organizational
and failure to make
with no grammatical
spelling errors and no
problems with
Poor organization with
corrections from the
mistakes and fewer than two more than two grammatical sentence or paragraph many spelling and/or
first draft to the final
spelling errors.
errors.
placement.
grammatical errors.
draft.
Additional Administration and Course Ethics Information:
Attendance Policy: Students are expected to be in attendance at each class. Unexcused
absences will result in deduction from the class participation grade equivalent to the number of
classes missed.
Course Evaluations:
The Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health administers end of semester course evaluations.
Students enrolled in this class will receive an evaluation via PantherMail during the last full week
of the semester, and they must complete it before the last day of final exams. If you do not use
your PantherMail, then please forward all messages to your primary email account, so you do not
miss this correspondence.
General Information:
In the event of disruption of normal classroom activities due to an outbreak, or any other public
health emergency, the format for this course may be modified to enable completion of the course.
In that event, you will be provided an addendum to this syllabus that will supersede this version.
Grade of “Incomplete”: Students are expected to complete all course work by the designated
deadlines during the semester. Grades of Incomplete will only be assigned when students are
unable to complete the requisite number of research hours and all assignments.
Incomplete Grade: An "Incomplete" grade will be given only for a major reason that occurs at the
end of the semester and only if the bulk of the course work is complete. The student must make
arrangements with me to complete the course work by a designated time.
Contesting a grade: Students are expected to contact the instructor within 2 weeks of receiving
a grade on any assignment if the student feels she/he was graded unfairly.
Comprehensive information on UWM policy: Specific points are mentioned below.
The policy can be found at http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SecU/SyllabusLinks.pdf.
Accommodation for Religious Observance: Students will be allowed to complete examinations
and other requirements in advance of religious observance given that the student informs the
instructor at the beginning of the semester or no later than 3 weeks prior to absences related to
religious observance.
Drop /Withdrawal/Repeat Policies: A student may drop a full-term course(s) through the end of
the eighth week of classes.
Special Needs: Students in need of special accommodations in order to meet course
requirements are expected to contact the instructor as soon as possible to make arrangements.
Cancellation of Class: If the canceled class is an exam date, the exam will be held on the next
class day. If weather conditions warrant the cancellation of class, the UWM home page, the radio
or TV will announce the closing. Also check UWM email.
Academic Misconduct Policy: Academic misconduct is an act in which a student seeks to
claim credit for the work or efforts of another without authorization or citation, uses unauthorized
materials or fabricated data in any academic exercise, forges or falsifies academic documents or
records, intentionally impedes or damages the academic work of others, engages in conduct
aimed at making false representation of a student's academic performance, or assists other
students in any of these.
Prohibited conduct includes cheating on an examination; collaborating with others in work to be
presented, contrary to stated rules of the course; submitting a paper or assignment as one's own
work when a part or all of the paper or assignment is the work of another; submitting a paper or
assignment that contains ideas or research of others without appropriately identifying the sources
of those ideas; stealing examinations or course materials; submitting, if contrary to the rules of a
course, work previously presented in another course; tampering with the laboratory experiment or
computer program of another student; knowingly and intentionally assisting another student in
any of the above, including assistance in an arrangement whereby any work, classroom
performance, examination or other activity is submitted or performed by a person other than the
student under whose name the work is submitted or performed.
In fairness to all students and to promote academic integrity, the Instructor of this course accepts
responsibility to deal effectively with any instance of academic dishonesty should it occur.
Students who violate academic standards as set forth in UWS Chapter 14 and UWM Faculty
Document 1686 (http://www4.uwm.edu/acad_aff/policy/academicmisconduct.cfm) will be
confronted and must accept the consequences and sanctions levied against them for their
actions.
Plagiarism and Cheating: (Student Handbook – pgs. 154-155)
Dishonesty, including but not limited to cheating, plagiarism, or knowingly supplying false
information or deceiving the school and its officials is a violation of the student conduct policy.
Any student who is found to have violated this policy is subject to disciplinary sanctions up to and
including suspension or permanent dismissal. Please be aware that plagiarism is presenting
another’s ideas as one’s own and includes paraphrasing as well as copying without proper
citations or quotation marks.
What is copyright?
Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to
the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and
certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished
works. Section 106 of the 1976 Copyright Act generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive
right to do and to authorize others to use their materials. You must get permission to use
copyrighted original works of authorship if you plan to make your project available to the public in
any way. For more on gaining permission, see:
http://www4.uwm.edu/ltc/copyright/getting-permission.cfm
Health Insurance:
It is strongly recommended that all students have health insurance that includes emergency room
and hospitalization coverage. The UWM Student Association offers a Student Health Insurance
Plan, which covers most major medical illnesses or injuries. The University does not provide
blanket medical coverage to students. Students are strongly encouraged to secure their own
health insurance, either through their parents, the Student Health Insurance Plan or some other
program. For more information about university health insurance, visit the following link:
http://www4.uwm.edu/studentorg/sa/executive/student_health_insurance.cfm