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HEALTH 107 Fall 2022 Position Paper Part A

Position Paper: Part A

EVAN BASALYGA

20969260

October 6th, 2022

HEALTH 107

University of Waterloo

Instructor: Professor Ogrodnik

TA Name: Osama Zitoun

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HEALTH 107 Fall 2022 Position Paper Part A

Does climate change have negative effects on human health?

Climate change refers to the average change of climate and conditions on the earth. There have

been many studies done on climate change, some findings suggest that the earth is steadily

warming, while others disagree and say that there is just a fluctuation of temperature over time.

The well-being of humans is directly affected by our environment, if the climate and

environment around us is changing, so will the state of our well-being.

Climate change does have negative effects on human health by impacting the air quality around

us, creating more natural disasters, and the steady rise in temperature around the planet.
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HEALTH 107 Fall 2022 Position Paper Part A

Annotation 1

George, M., Bruzzese, J.-M., & Matura, L. A. (2017). Climate change effects on respiratory

health: Implications for nursing. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 49(6), 644–652.

https://doi.org/10.1111/jnu.12330

In this special issue from a scholarly journal the author's talk about the effects climate change has

on respiratory health and the impacts it has on nursing. The authors explain how factors

associated with respiratory health are affected by climate change. They mention the relationship

climate change has with respiratory related diseases and infections such as, asthma and

hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, and they underline the morbidity associated with the disease

and infection affecting the respiratory system. The article is concluded with the authors

hypothesizing a solution for nurses. They describe how anticipate, react to, and decrease the

effects of climate change.

Maureen George is an associate professor at the Columbia University School of Nursing. Jean-

Marie Bruzzese is an associate professor of Applied Development Phycology, at Columbia

University School of Nursing. Lea Ann Matura is an associate professor at the University of

Pennsylvania School of Nursing. All these authors have outstanding job titles and are very

educated on the subject at hand making them qualified to write about this scientific topic.

This article opened my eyes to the amount of effects climate change has on respiratory health.

When I first started this paper, I thought only of the respiratory diseases and infections affecting

respiratory health I did not think of the way climate change effects the amount of pollen in the

air, more floods, dust storms, and wildfires.

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HEALTH 107 Fall 2022 Position Paper Part A

Annotation 2

Sauerborn, R., & Ebi, K. (2012). Climate change and natural disasters – integrating science and

practice to Protect Health. Global Health Action, 5(1), 1–7.

https://doi.org/10.3402/gha.v5i0.19295

In this scholarly publication the authors break down the effects of climate change on natural

disasters, and how to effectively utilize science to protect health. They begin with the question

on if climate change influences natural disasters. They look at stats on if certain extreme events

have become more regular and have lasted longer in recent decades. The authors then ask what

certain types of extreme events climate change influences and is it relative. The authors end the

journal by asking the question on how the disaster, climate, and development communities can

enhance disaster guidance and avoidance while working with the health system communities.

Rainer Sauerborn and Kristie Ebi are both well renowned professors at prestigious schools in the

faculty of health. Sauerborn is the director of the institute, and the Senior Professor at Heidelberg

University Hospital and Ebi is the Professor in the Centre of Health and the Global Environment

at the University of Washington. They have the insight, knowledge, and resources to write on

this topic.

This article describes the relationship between climate change and natural disasters which is the

exact topic that I am writing on. This article efficiently displays statistic’s which will be useful in

proving the points in my paper. I will use the end of the article, where the author’s articulate how

to cope with and lessen the effects of climate change, to fortify my point on the effects of climate

change.
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HEALTH 107 Fall 2022 Position Paper Part A

Annotation 3

Huang, L., Liu, P., Lou, J., Kota, S. H., & Wu, Y. (2019). Health effects of climate change

through temperature and air pollution. Current Pollution Reports, 5(3), 144–158.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40726-019-00112-9

This scholarly article focuses on the affect’s climate change has had on air pollution and

temperature, and how these problems affect human health. This article aims to reveal

relationship between the change in air temperature and quality, caused by climate change, and

the influence they have on human health. The authors use projections as well as statistics to

formulate a solution to these issues.

The students that wrote this paper all attend prestigious universities overseas either in China or

India. This article has been cited many times in others work, is peer reviewed, and was published

by a well-renowned publishing company. This ensures me that this article and these authors

comprehend what they are writing about, and that the data is of high quality.

This review helps me perfectly illustrate the negative affect climate change has on human health,

specifically the effect of air pollution and rising temperature. The findings from the authors

research, along with their projections, support my thoughts and ideas. I will use the data and

information given in this paper, especially the projections on air quality and health affects.
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HEALTH 107 Fall 2022 Position Paper Part A

Search methods used to find my sources

When starting my research process, I had to figure out which topic there would be the most

writing and data on. I utilized PubMed and the Waterloo Library Catalogue to research the

different topics and see how much information was on each one. After I chose my topic, I had to

brainstorm what key terms and phrases I would use. I wanted to find key terms for each one of

my points of the effects of climate change with air quality, natural disasters, and rising

temperatures. I then used the Waterloo Library Catalogue to begin my research. I used the

advanced search tab. I applied parentheses to separate phrases. I also utilized the “peer reviewed”

check box and used the search filter to change “any field” to “title” to ensure my articles would

have my phrases in the title of the article. The last thing I did before I clicked search was change

“resource type” from “all items” to “articles”. Some of the search terms I utilized were:

- “climate change” “respiratory health”

- “climate change” negative “respiratory health”

- “climate change” “natural disasters”

- “climate change” “natural disaster” “correlation”

- “climate change” “overall temperature”

- “climate change” “temperature” “health”

After applying these filters, I read through the list of articles the search produced. If the search

was too broad and produced too many results, I would change the year filter to make the results

more recent. I found which articles best reinforced my points and chose them.
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HEALTH 107 Fall 2022 Position Paper Part A