Jonathan Patz is a Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor and the John P. Holton Chair of Health and the Environment at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His faculty appointments are in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and the Department of Population Health Sciences in the School of Medicine and Public Health.
Since earning his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University in 1987 and his master of public health degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1992, Patz has worked to uncover how climate change affects public health. For 15 years, he served as a lead author for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and was part of the team who shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. From 2011 to 2022, Patz also served as the inaugural director of the UW’s Global Health Institute — a unit dedicated to improving human health internationally by strengthening communities, animal health, and the natural world.
My Chief Area of Research Is:
Environmental public health. I’ve worked at the intersection of climate change and public health for three decades. I was health cochair for the first National Climate Assessment, a congressional report, and served on the United Nation’s IPCC for 15 years.
Tonight on the UW Now Livestream, I’ll Discuss:
I’ll cover the latest research on the health effects of wildfire smoke, including childhood asthma and adverse birth outcomes when pregnant women are exposed to wildfire smoke. I’ll briefly mention the World Weather Attribution initiative that now is able to link some of these most extreme weather disasters to human-caused climate change — though analysis of the Los Angeles fires isn’t finished yet.
Since I know other speakers may discuss insurance, I’d like to show one slide about how, in the 1970s, oil company scientists predicted the global warming and weather disasters we’re now experiencing.
The snowpack cover is two to three weeks shorter out west than it was 50 years ago, which leads to drier conditions and exacerbates the risk of extreme wildfires.
One Thing I’d Like Viewers to Remember Is:
Most extreme weather disasters are a threat to human health, and these extremes are expected to increase in frequency and intensity with climate change. Who should pay for these disasters? The time for accountability is long overdue.
To Get Smart Fast, Check Out:
- Ebling Library has a subscription to our 2024 second edition textbook: Climate Change and Public Health, or you can find it on Amazon.
- Nature article on wildfires and health.
