The below November 7th podcast post provides a link to an essay that, in part, provides an overview of the United Nation's International Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC's) recent report titled, "Global Warming of 1.5°C." As noted in the essay, what is particularly noteworthy about the IPCC's report is its conclusion that keeping or holding temperature increases to below 2°C, the goal of the Paris climate accord, would not avoid the more serious effects of global warming. For example, at 1.5°C of warming a significant percent of vertebrates, insects and plants would lose half of their climatically-determined geographic range and 70 to 90 percent of coral reefs would be lost.
During this 28 minute conversation Professor Kirstie Ebi begins by briefly explaining the IPCC's work, she then discusses several of the findings in chapter 3, that she co-authored and is titled, "Impacts of 1.5°C Global Warming on Natural and Human Systems.," Professor Ebi makes note of the international climate change research communities' upcoming meeting in Poland, next issue of the US's Climate Science Special Report, anticipated in December, and comments on the health care industry's responsibility and opportunity to contribute to solving the climate crisis.
Professor Kristie L. Ebi, is the Director of the Center for Health and Global Environment (CHanGE) and the Rohm and Haas Endowed Professor in Public Health Sciences at the University of Washington. She is the author of multiple national and international climate change assessments, including the IPCC's recently published Report on Global Warming of 1.5C. Professor Ebi co-chairs the International Committee on New Integrated Climate change assessment Scenarios (ICONICS) that created five scenarios of socioeconomic development over this century. Professor Ebi's scientific training includes a MS in toxicology and a Ph.D. and a Masters of Public Health in epidemiology and two years of post-graduate research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine She has edited four books on aspects of climate change and over 200 publications.
The IPCC report is at: http://www.ipcc.ch/report/sr15/
Though not noted during this discussion, it's worth noting here the much discussed essay by Will Steffen and colleagues published this past August in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) regarding "hothouse earth." The essay, "Trajectories of the Earth System in the Anthropocene," is at: http://www.pnas.org/content/115/33/8252
Professor Kristie Ebi Discusses the IPCC Report's Findings Related to Global Warming on Human Systems (November 14th)