DEPARTMENT: EH
COURSE NUMBER: 590R SECTION NUMBER: TBD
CREDIT HOURS: 2 SEMESTER: Spring 2020
COURSE TITLE: Planetary Health
ROOM AND TIME: TBD (can be 2x/week 50 m, or 1x/week “double”)
INSTRUCTOR’S NAME: Matt Gribble
INSTRUCTOR’S CONTACT INFORMATION
EMAIL: [email protected]
PHONE: 404-712-8908
SCHOOL ADDRESS OR MAILBOX LOCATION: CNR 2023
OFFICE HOURS: By Appointment
TEACHING ASSISTANT INFORMATION
NAME: TBD
EMAIL: TBD
OFFICE HOURS: By Appointment
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Human beings are profoundly altering the natural systems of the planet, resulting in a variety of unintended population health consequences. This course explores several of the mechanisms by which humans are influencing the physical, chemical, and ecological conditions on the planet, and some of the potential consequences of those ongoing changes in systems for human societies. Although all topics presented in this course are intersectional, the first half of the class places greater emphasis on planetary health impacts of ecosystem changes, and the second half of the class places greater emphasis on the planetary health impacts of geological and atmospheric changes. Successful completion of this course will refine skills in systems thinking and regard for planetary health challenges.
Prerequisites: EH520, EH582 or permission of instructor
MPH/MSPH FOUNDATIONAL COMPETENCY: Apply systems thinking tools to a public health issue
EVALUATION:
1. Classroom Participation and In-Class Activities: 20% 2. Writing Responses: 30% 3. Midterm Exam: 15% 4. Final Exam: 15% 5. End-of-Term Group Presentation on a Planetary Health Topic in the News: 20%
Grading: ≥ 92 % A 75 – 77 % B 85 – 92 % A- 70 – 74 % B- 78 – 84 % B+ 50 – 69 % C < 50 % F
COURSE STRUCTURE:
This course is primarily a lecture series introducing a variety of planetary health themes. Although these lectures are informal presentations, during which you are expected to ask questions and engage with the material, the majority of your response to the material will be shared through the writing assignments rather than in-class discussions. If a longer class discussion happens organically, 1 Course: EH-501: Planetary Health that is terrific, but you will still be responsible for the material on the slides (e.g., you may be tested on the material on slides), whether all the slides are actually presented in class or if we run out of time to present some of the slides in class. This course is fast-paced, and we will not have time to revisit slides from one session in a future session, except for possibly during the designated “review sessions” held prior to the midterm exam and to the final exam. These exam review sessions will be “Question and Answer” format and directed by student questions. These sessions will end once the student questions stop, and may adjourn early. Attendance and engagement during these exam review sessions is expected, and will count toward “class participation” just like on lecture days.
The midterm and final exams may cover any material on lecture slides, assigned readings, or points raised in in-class discussion. In addition to testing your knowledge of planetary health dynamics, these exams will also evaluate your ability to hypothesize plausible connections between environmental changes and public health outcomes (“apply systems thinking tools”), and come up with study designs suitable for evaluating the hypothesized relationships.
Writing responses are required for almost every assigned reading (see course calendar for more details). These are an opportunity to show your engagement with the material and application of “systems thinking tools”, by your identifying knowledge gaps regarding how the planetary change may actually affect population health outcomes, and proposal of appropriate study designs to investigate.
The end-of-semester group presentation on a timely planetary health topic (e.g., reported on within the last month of the course) will demonstrate your mastery of “systems thinking tools” through your articulation of the changes to a system, and how these changes affect public health outcomes.
You are encouraged to make appointments for office hours to discuss course material, in particular possible connections between the multiple changes to planetary systems discussed in class.
Classroom Participation: 20% of grade
1. Classroom participation – you will be responsible for coming to class on time, and I will take attendance. As noted in the course policies section below, if you are late to class you will lose some points on classroom participation; if you miss class entirely, you will get zero credit for classroom participation for that session. Although there may be limited dedicated time for discussion in class, you are still expected to be present, alert, and paying attention to ask questions of the material, especially questions relating concepts discussed in class. Raising questions in class about planetary health dynamics, in particular connections between lectures, is expected as part of the participation grade.
How the MPH Competency is addressed: Students ask questions applying systems thinking tools to probe the planetary health dynamics of environmental health challenges.
Writing Responses: 30% of grade
1. Writing Responses – Each reading selected for this course pertains to system-level environmental processes relevant for human and ecological communities. After reading each article, please write at least one page that summarizes that paper’s main message, notes the most surprising thing in the paper for you, and note at least one question that based on this reading you think might remain unanswered, or a key limitation of the study that you think might be addressed in future work. Propose a study that could address the question (or one of the questions if you had several) – may be epidemiological or another kind of study. The goal is to get you thinking about these systems in specific, tangible ways, and imagine how you could concretely extend this body of knowledge.
There are two occasions, once before the midterm and once before the final, when you are required to read and synthesize two articles in your writing response. This is intentional, so that you have practice applying systems thinking prior to the exams which test you on this skill.
How the MPH Competency is addressed: Students in their writing response apply systems thinking tools to identify and suggest ways to address knowledge gaps in planetary health.
Midterm Exam: 15% of grade
1. Midterm exam – primarily emphasizes the inter-relationships between ecosystem functions, biogeochemical cycles, depletion of natural resources, land use, and population health. The major theme is how the biosphere and chemosphere are changing in response to climate change and other anthropogenic impacts. This test will include an applied exercise in systems thinking (short answer and drawing a picture), as well as testing knowledge of some planetary health dynamics (multiple choice).
How the MPH Competency is addressed: Students apply systems thinking tools to identify connections between changes in planetary systems and human population outcomes as part of the exam.
2 Course: EH-501: Planetary Health Final Exam: 15% of grade
1. Final exam – primarily emphasizes the inter-relationships between geological change, hydrological change, and physical environments (e.g., temperature). The major theme is how the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere are changing in response to climate change and other anthropogenic impacts, although there is some discussion of biosphere impacts as well. This test will include an applied exercise in systems thinking (short answer and drawing a picture), as well as testing knowledge of some planetary health dynamics (multiple choice).
How the MPH Competency is addressed: Students apply systems thinking tools to identify connections between changes in planetary systems and human population outcomes as part of the exam.
End-of-Term Group Presentation: 20% of grade
1. Group Presentations – you will be working with a small group to present for 5-10 minutes on a systemic planetary challenge described in an article released within one month of the end of the semester. This can be a scientific report and/or it can be a news article; there are very frequent news stories of how we are damaging planetary systems, and usually these stories are written in response to and discussing the specific findings of some new study. This exercise is an opportunity for your group to demonstrate your collective ability to identify connections and apply “systems thinking tools.”
How the MPH Competency is addressed: Students working in groups will apply systems thinking tools to describe connections between ongoing changes in components of the planetary system (e.g., the hydrosphere, the lithosphere, the biosphere) and human population outcomes.
COURSE POLICIES
We have a lot of material to cover, and need to be respectful of the classes meeting after ours, so we will be ending class on time. Therefore, you need to come to class on time. To receive all 10 points of 10 possible points of credit for classroom participation for a day, you must arrive within the first 10 minutes of class and complete the sign-in sheet that day, listing your time of arrival to class. If you arrive more than 10 minutes late, you will be subtracted one point of participation for each 5 minutes late, such that if you arrive 22 minutes late, you can earn up to 8/10 points for participation, and if you arrive 30 minutes late, you can earn up to 6/10 points of classroom participation for the day.
You are allowed one “free” missed day of class where the missed or late attendance will not affect your classroom participation grade, but only if you contact the instructor within 24 hours to provide written explanation for why you could not attend class, at all or on time, that day.
This class will not have extra credit opportunities.
Assignments are due at the start of class. For example, the writing response to the reading assigned on Thursday January 16 is due before class on Tuesday January 21. Homework will not be accepted late, except in case of emergency (e.g., you were in the hospital).
You will receive written feedback on some, but not necessarily all, of your writing responses. Midterm Exams will not be returned, but may be reviewed afterwards individually by appointment during office hours. Final Exams will be neither returned, nor discussed (there will not be office hours after the course has ended). You may receive brief written comments regarding your end-of-term classroom presentations at the end of that class session. There will be no office hours following an exam review session before the corresponding exam, so be prepared and bring your questions to review sessions.
I endeavor for the classroom to be an inclusive and supportive learning environment. To that end, I will begin the course by establishing via a classroom discussion our “Ground Rules” for a safe space in which to discuss potentially sensitive topics as they come up over the course of the class. This class will have days where the material is controversial, and we have a collective responsibility to keep the classroom civil and avoid making offensive and overly simplistic statements. In particular, please be aware that facile claims regarding “overpopulation” can be offensive. This course will be discussing a variety of environmental problems caused by unsustainable human behaviors that are increasing globally, and so this classroom needs to be a safe space for discussing issues of global justice, sustainability, and the consequences of aggregated human behaviors.
3 Course: EH-501: Planetary Health In the event that you experience any barriers to learning in this course, do not hesitate to contact your instructor and the Office for Equity and Inclusion, 404-727-9877. RSPH POLICIES
Accessibility and Accommodations Accessibility Services works with students who have disabilities to provide reasonable accommodations. In order to receive consideration for reasonable accommodations, you must contact the Office of Accessibility Services (OAS). It is the responsibility of the student to register with OAS. Please note that accommodations are not retroactive and that disability accommodations are not provided until an accommodation letter has been processed.
Students who registered with OAS and have a letter outlining their academic accommodations are strongly encouraged to coordinate a meeting time with the instructor to discuss a protocol to implement the accommodations as needed throughout the semester. This meeting should occur as early in the semester as possible.
Contact Accessibility Services for more information at (404) 727-9877 or [email protected]. Additional information is available at the OAS website at http://equityandinclusion.emory.edu/access/students/index.html
Honor Code You are bound by Emory University’s Student Honor and Conduct Code. RSPH requires that all material submitted by a student fulfilling his or her academic course of study must be the original work of the student. Violations of academic honor include any action by a student indicating dishonesty or a lack of integrity in academic ethics. Academic dishonesty refers to cheating, plagiarizing, assisting other students without authorization, lying, tampering, or stealing in performing any academic work, and will not be tolerated under any circumstances.
The RSPH Honor Code states: “Plagiarism is the act of presenting as one’s own work the expression, words, or ideas of another person whether published or unpublished (including the work of another student). A writer’s work should be regarded as his/her own property.” (http://www.sph.emory.edu/cms/current_students/enrollment_services/honor_code.html)
Course Textbook
There is no required textbook for this course.
If you find yourself inspired by any of the material in the class, please feel free to make an office hours appointment to discuss why you found the specific topic interesting, and during that office hour I will try to point you toward additional resources targeted to that interest.
The following textbooks are not required for the course but may be of general interest for further exploration of some of the topics discussed in class:
Gilbert and Epel, 2009. Ecological Developmental Biology: Integrating Epigenetics, Medicine, and Evolution. Published by Sinauer Associates, Inc. (Sunderland, MA, USA). 480 pages. ISBN: 978-0-87893-299-3.
Crume, 2018. Environmental Health in the 21st Century: from Air Pollution to Zoonotic Diseases. Published by ABC-CLIO, Inc. (Santa Barbara, CA, USA). 700 pages (2 volumes). ISBN: 978-1-4408-4364-8.
4 Course: EH-501: Planetary Health COURSE CALENDAR (Note: topics and dates may be updated as the semester progresses). The first half of the course emphasizes changes in biotic factors (‘biosphere’ changes) relevant to human health and the second half emphasizes changes in abiotic factors (‘geosphere’ changes) relevant for human health.
Date Topic(s) Readings for Next Class Main Takeaway(s)
Week 1 Session 1 An introduction to Planetary Health Two required readings, but no writing response is required this We are making rapid, irreversible changes to week. Writing responses will begin with Unit 2. the planet and these changes have ramifications (and: syllabus overview, class for public health. “Ground Rules” for respectful 1. Whitmee et al. 2015. Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene discussion of sensitive topics) epoch: report of the Rockefeller Foundation – Lancet commission on planetary health. The Lancet 386: 10007. 2. McMichael 2002. The Biosphere, Health, and “Sustainability”. Science
297(5584):1093.
and Course Course and
Week 1 Session 2 Planetary Health and the Biosphere No writing response is required this week. Writing responses will We are altering the ecosystems on Planet Earth begin with Unit 2. and these changes may impact human health. Colwell and Machlis. 2017. The Role of GeoHealth in Science during Crisis. GeoHealth 3(7):176-177. Week 2 Session 1 Planetary Health and the Geosphere Two required readings, but no writing response is required this time. We are altering the physical conditions on Writing responses will begin in Unit 2 (next session). Planet Earth, and these changes may impact
. What is “Planetary What . is Health”? human health. 1. Engstrom. 2007. Fish respond when the mercury rises. PNAS : General Introduction General : 104(42):16394-16395. 2. Harris et al. 2007. Whole-ecosystem study shows rapid fish-mercury
nit1 response to changes in mercury deposition. PNAS 104(42):16586-16591.
U Overview Week 2 Session 2 The Mercury Cycle and Public Schartup et al. 2019. Climate change and overfishing increase We have disrupted a natural geological cycle,
Health neurotoxicant in marine predators. Nature 572:648-650. largely through burning coal, and this is harmful to human health because of ecosystems concentrating mercury in the larger fish that people eat. Policies intended to limit mercury
pollution from coal have major co-benefits. Geosphere
Week 3 Session 1 Mercury in Seafood under Climate Kalia et al. 2019. Climate variability differentially affects The amount of mercury that gets into the fish and and Change and Overfishing bioaccumulation of pollutants in sympatric seabirds. (Under Review; may people eat is affected by climate change and substitute another reading if not yet published.) overfishing, because these alter the ecosystems
in which fish live and accumulate mercury.
onnected
C -
Biophere Week 3 Session 2 Climate Cycles and Chemistry: the Kalamandeen et al. 2018. Pervasive rise of small-scale deforestation in Recap: both ecology and climate influence the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and Amazonia. Scientific Reports 8: 1600. concentrations of persistent, bioaccumulative Inter Persistent Organic Pollutants in and toxic (PBT) chemicals in specific
Seabirds organisms living in ecosystems.
Unit 2: Unit are
5 Course: EH-501: Planetary Health Week 4 Session 1 Mercury, Gold Mining, Agricultural Tucker Lima et al. 2017. Does deforestation promote or inhibit malaria Mercury pollution comes not only from coal, Demand, and Deforestation transmission in the Amazon? A systematic literature review and critical but also comes from deforestation and gold appraisal of current evidence. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal mining. Deforestation is driven in part by Society B 372(1722): 20160125. agricultural demand in a global food economy. Week 4 Session 2 Deforestation and Malaria Gill et al. 2015. The environmental impact of nutrition transition in three Land use changes, mosquito population case study countries. Food Security 7(3):493-504. dynamics, and human population dynamics all jointly shape the risks of malaria by rainforests. Week 5 Session 1 Guest Lecture – Solveig Argeseanu Zhu et al. 2019. Carbon dioxide (CO2) levels this century will alter the The world’s population is shifting to more meat Cunningham: The Nutrition protein, micronutrients, and vitamin content of rice grains with potential consumption, which motivates greater
Agriculture Transition health consequences for the poorest rice-dependent countries. Science deforestation. Is it unjust to discourage Global
nd nd Advances 4(5): eaaq1012. South countries from adopting diets considered a “normal” in Global North countries? Week 5 Session 2 Guest Lecture – Sheela Sinharoy: Halstead et al. 2018. Importance of matching soil N transformations, crop Excess carbon dioxide may diminish the
CO2, Crop Chemistry, and N form preference, and climate to enhance crop yield and reducing N nutrient content of rice, a dietary staple in and Use Use and
L Malnutrition loss. Science of the Total Environment 657: 1265-1273. many countries. This is one example of how carbon emissions may disproportionately affect poor countries (“climate justice”, revisited). Week 6 Session 1 Guest Lecture - Eri Saikawa: Crops, Halstead et al. 2018. Agrochemicals increase risk of human The carbon cycle is not the only component of
Biosphere: Biosphere: Nitrogen and Climate schistosomiasis by supporting higher densities of intermediate hosts. climate change; the nitrogen cycle also matters. : :
3 Nature Communications 9: 837. Agriculture has major implications for global nitrogen cycling. Nitrate runoff water pollution
has other environmental consequences. Unit Unit Week 6 Session 2 Fertilizers, Pesticides, and Parasitic Kidd et al. 2014. Direct and indirect responses of a freshwater food web Combinations of chemicals used in agriculture Infection Risks to a potent synthetic oestrogen. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal (pesticides and fertilizers) can have net toxic Society B 369: 20130578. effects on one organism in an ecosystem (e.g.,
snail predators) yet beneficial impacts on another organism (e.g., algae/snail food). These impacts can result in changes in the abundance of disease-causing organisms (e.g., snail hosts
cosystems of parasites that cause schistosomiasis). E Week 7 Session 1 Ecological Ripples: Toxicity of Two readings this time! Read both, but choose one for the writing Even chemicals that are toxic only for a single Chemicals for Ecosystem Functions response. species in an ecosystem (e.g., reproduction failure in flathead minnows in response to the 1. Backer et al. 2015. Cyanobacteria and algae blooms: review of health synthetic estrogen used in the birth control pill,
Biosphere: Biosphere: and environmental data from the Harmful Algal Bloom-Related Illness 17α-ethynyloestradiol) can have major impacts : :
4 Surveillance System. Toxins 7(4): 1048-1064. on ecosystems when the affected species has an 2. Kang. 2011. Omega-3: A link between global climate change and important ecological role.
human health. Biotechnology Advances 29(4): 388-390.
Unit Unit
6 Course: EH-501: Planetary Health Week 7 Session 2 Ecological Conditions and Natural Two readings this time! Read both, and refer to both in the writing Climate and nutrient conditions can favor some Products response. The act of synthesizing these will strengthen your “systems organisms over others within ecosystems, and thinking” skills to help you prepare for the midterm exam. lead to greater or diminished production of 1. Swei et al. Impacts of an introduced forest pathogen on risk of Lyme toxic, or nutritious, chemicals. disease in California. Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases 12(8): 623- 632. 2. Haas et al. 2016. Effects of individual, community, and landscape drivers on the dynamics of a wildland forest epidemic. Ecology 97(3):
649-600.
Week 8 Session 1 MIDTERM EXAM REVIEW AND None - study for the midterm emphasizing “biosphere” changes. Student-led Q&A session. CLASS DISCUSSION Week 8 Session 2 MIDTERM EXAM N/A – please rest and enjoy your break SPRING BREAK N/A Week 9 Session 1 Guest Lecture - Kim Cobb (Georgia Scheelbeek et al. 2017. Drinking water salinity and raised blood pressure: Measuring sea-level rise is challenging, but it Tech): Smart Sensors and Sea-Level evidence from a cohort study in coastal Bangladesh. Environmental can be done in real-time using advanced sensor Rise Health Perspectives 125(5): 057007. technologies. (GA Tech guest lecture) Week 9 Session 2 Guest Lecture – Naser Titu: Sea- Sigmundsson et al. 2010. Climate effects on volcanism: influence of Sea-level rise exacerbates saltwater intrusion
Level Rise, Saltwater Intrusion and magmatic systems of loading and unloading from ice mass variations, into coastal aquifers, increasing salt intake LevelRise - Cardiovascular Disease with examples from Iceland. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal among populations relying on those aquifers Society A 368: 2519-2534. for drinking water. This increased sodium intake may have consequences for cardiovascular disease risks. Week 10 Session 1 Melting Glacier Geophysics: Two readings this time! Read both, but choose one for writing Sea-level rise is not the only impact of thawing Volcanos and Crust Dynamics response. glaciers. As ice melts, it changes the weight on 1. Hauer. 2016. Millions projected to be at risk from sea-level rise in the the planet’s crust, affecting volcano activity. United States. Nature Climate Change 6(7): 651.
Glacial Melt and Sea and Melt Glacial 2. Frankel Davies et al. 2018. A universal model for predicting human migration under climate change: examining future sea level rise in Bangladesh. Environmental Research Letters. 13: 064030. Week 10 Session 2 Demographic Impacts of Smith, Knight and Fendorf. 2018. Overpumping leads to California Sea-level rise will displace millions of people
Geosphere: Geosphere: Climate Disasters groundwater arsenic threat. Nature Communications 9:2089 around the world. This displacement, along : :
5 with displacement from other manifestations of climate change (e.g., drought-caused famine
migrants) will pose a variety of challenges.
Unit Unit Week 11 Session 1 Drought, Well-Pumping, and Mosley 2015. Drought impacts on the water quality of freshwater Drought is increasing in many parts of the Arsenic in Groundwater systems; review and integration. Earth-Science Reviews 140: 203-214. world, and leads to increased usage of groundwater supplies. This may contribute to
7 Course: EH-501: Planetary Health water insecurity, and in some places may alter geochemistry to favor more arsenic release.
Week 11 Session 2 Drought, Surface Water Quality, Federici et al. 2018. Airborne bacteria and persistent organic pollutants Droughts also affect surface water quality, by and Sediment Toxicity associated with an intense Saharan dust event in the Central reducing stream flow and shrinking lakes. Mediterranean. Contaminated sediments of retreating lakes, such as the Salton Sea in California, can become airborne particulate matter coated in
toxic chemicals (e.g., hazardous air pollutants).
Aridification
Week 12 Session 1 Guest Lecture – Joe Brown (Georgia Künzli et al. 2006 Health Effects of the 2003 Southern California Bacteria and other pathogens, as well as toxic Tech): Microbes and Chemicals Ride wildfires on children. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care chemicals, can travel long distances attached to on Particulate Air Pollution Medicine 174(11): 1221-1228. airborne particles such as Saharan desert dust.
Geosphere: Week 12 Session 2 Wildfire Höök and Aleklett. 2009. Historical trends in American coal production Drought can desiccate plants and increase risks
and a possible future outlook. International Journal of Coal Geology of wildfires. Wildfires are important sources of 78(3):201-216. PM2.5 air pollution exposure, as well as drivers
of injury and property damage.
Unit 6: Unit
Week 13 Session 1 Guest Lecture – Emily Grubert Scovronic et al. 2019. Human health and the social cost of carbon: a Efforts to regulate one contaminant (e.g., SOx, a (Georgia Tech): How Environmental primer and call to action. Epidemiology 30(5): 642-647. criteria air pollutant under the Clean Air Act)
Policy Opened a Coal District can have secondary impacts (e.g., the Powder You should start working on your group presentations if you have River Basin coal mining district, one of the not already. largest in the world, really took off when its low-sulfur coal had a market advantage; the growth of this coal mining district has had impacts on local community pollution). Week 13 Session 2 Guest Lecture – Noah Scovronic – Two readings this time! Read both, and refer to both in the writing Estimating “co-benefits” is very important for Climate Co-Benefits and the Social response. The act of synthesizing these will strengthen your “systems the cost-benefit analysis of whether policies are Cost of Carbon thinking” skills to help you prepare for the final exam. “worth it” to implement. Which “co-benefits” 1. Duniway et al. 2019. Wind erosion and dust from US drylands: a are currently considered when talking about review of causes, consequences, and solutions in a changing world. climate change actions, and how can additional Ecosphere 10(3): e02650. planetary health knowledge be incorporated? 2. Park et al. 2018. Keeping global warming within 1.5 °C constrains
emergence of aridification. Nature Climate Change 8:70-74.
Unit 7: Planetary Health & Policy & 7: Unit Planetary Health Week 14 Session 1 FINAL EXAM REVIEW AND No assigned readings but finish your group presentations for next Student-led Q&A session. CLASS DISCUSSION session. These presentations should highlight your systems thinking skills. Also, please fill out the course evaluation! Week 14 Session 2 LAST DAY OF CLASS: IN-CLASS Study for final exam emphasizing ‘geosphere’ (and ‘hydrosphere’) Student group presentations. PRESENTATIONS changes. Also, please fill out the course evaluation! FINAL EXAM Please fill out the course evaluations if you have not yet!
8 Course: EH-501: Planetary Health