1990s

Samuel S. Myers, M.D. ’92, M.P.H., an instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and research associate at the Harvard University Center for the Environment, is the author of Global Environmental Change: The Threat to Human Health, a report published in November by the Worldwatch Institute and the United Nations Foundation. The report outlines a series of public health threats caused by climate change—food and water scarcity, altered distribution of infectious diseases, increased air pollution, natural disasters, and population displacement—that threaten large segments of the human population. The report outlines the need for national-level risk assessments to identify the greatest threats in different regions, as well as unprecedented technical and financial assistance from the international community to help developing countries adapt to the health impacts of accelerating environmental change.