Climate Change

"Most scientific studies indicate that health will be significantly affected by climate change and climate variability, generating increases of endemic diseases and emergence and reemergence of communicable or transmissible diseases..."

"Given the scope and scale of climate change, effective steps to mitigate impacts (reduce sources or enhance sinks of greenhouse gases) will have major economic and political consequences. And, as with any scientific issue as complex as climate change, there are built-in uncertainties as well as underdeveloped methods for predicting future changes in climate. Together, these forces have combined in a fierce political battle regarding policy response to climate change."

"Climate change has been characterized as the “greatest moral challenge of our time.” While the causes and impacts of climate change are now broadly understood, comparatively little attention has been directed toward the ethical challenges posed by climate change or to how the values, beliefs, and ethics of human societies drive the various actions that contribute to climate change."

"Anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change will seriously test our ability to plan and manage cities. Taken-for-granted urban institutions such as housing, industries, schools, hospitals, and transport systems will all likely be affected."