Climate Change and Human Health A Directory of Research Papers on the Health Impacts of Human-Caused Climate Change Human-caused climate change is no longer simply an environmental issue—it has become one of the defining public health challenges of the twenty-first century. In addition to the direct deaths caused by heatwaves, floods, hurricanes, droughts, wildfires, and […]
Category Archives: Medicine
Climate Change Health Impact Directory
Climate Change, Gut Dysbiosis, and the Human Microbiome
How Environmental Stressors Disrupt Gut Health, Sleep, and Systemic Well-Being By Daniel Brouse The human gut microbiome is one of the body’s most complex and essential ecosystems, influencing digestion, immunity, metabolism, and even brain function. A growing body of scientific evidence indicates that climate change is emerging as a significant environmental threat to this internal […]
Climate Change and REM Sleep: How a Warming Planet is Disrupting the Brain’s Most Restorative Sleep Stage
by Daniel Brouse Preface This summer, I began noticing a significant decline in both my overall sleep quality and, in particular, my REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. After reviewing the data from my sleep tracker, I was able to link much of the disruption to elevated nighttime temperatures. Then, last night, another factor became impossible […]
Climate Responsibility and Accountability
Addendum to: Solutions to the Fossil Fuel Economy and the Myths Accelerating Climate and Economic Collapse http://membrane.com/global_warming/Basic-Economics.html Climate Responsibility and Accountability Introduction The original purpose of Solutions to the Fossil Fuel Economy and the Myths Accelerating Climate and Economic Collapse was to focus on practical solutions rather than assigning blame. Since its publication, however, many […]
The Full Economic Burden of Climate Change in the United States
Beyond Point Estimates: An Ensemble-Based Probabilistic Framework for Estimating the Full Economic Burden of Climate Change in the United States Daniel Brouse and Sidd Mukherjee Abstract Traditional estimates of climate damages generally report single-value estimates or narrow ranges that fail to capture the cascading uncertainty inherent in coupled human-natural systems. Climate change is not a […]
Quantifying the Climate Tax: The Full Ledger of Harm
Macro-Welfare Frameworks vs. Economic Justice Valuation in the United States Daniel Brouse and Sidd Mukherjee I. Introduction A. Research Problem Climate change imposes large and growing costs on the United States, yet there is still no centralized national ledger that captures the full burden in a unified way. Conventional economic indicators—especially GDP, insured losses, and […]
The Welfare Cost of Climate Change in the United States
A Per-Capita Estimate of Mortality, Morbidity, and Life-Expectancy Loss in 2025 Daniel Brouse and Siddhartha MukherjeeJune 2026 Abstract: Climate Welfare Accounting Framework (CWAF) Climate change is often discussed in terms of physical damages, disaster losses, or aggregate effects on GDP. Those measures are important, but they understate a central reality: climate change is also a […]
Philadelphia Area Wet-Bulb Health Alert: The Hidden Dangers of Heat, Humidity, and Accelerated Aging
Heat Risks Are Higher Than Many Realize The Philadelphia region is currently under a heat emergency, with heat index values expected to reach approximately 102–103°F over the next two days. While many people focus on air temperature alone, the greater threat often comes from the dangerous combination of heat and humidity. One of the best […]
Heat Stress, Environmental Stressors, and the Limits of Human Adaptability
A Follow-Up to Heat Stress, Human Survivability, and the Emerging Physiological Limits of Climate Change http://membrane.com/global_warming/Heat-Survivability-Thresholds.html Q: How Adaptable Are Humans to Rising Heat and Compounding Environmental Stressors? A: Far less adaptable than many assume. Modern humans (Homo sapiens) are approximately 200,000 years old, with some of our closest ancestral lineages dating back roughly 140,000 […]
The Future: Feedback Loops and the Limits of Human Adaptation
Introduction: Bounded — But Potentially Extreme Q: What is the most likely future climate scenario? A: Accelerating climate disruption driven by interacting feedback loops. The good news is that physics places limits on the absolute worst-case outcomes. Earth is not expected to undergo a runaway Venus-style greenhouse effect in which oceans boil away and the […]