Epstein has spent over two decades studying climate change. At the event, "Global Climate Change and Emerging Infectious Disease," he discussed how a warming earth has rendered certain areas more hospitable to epidemics.
Although most warming is taking place at the poles, Epstein described how climate change has ignored geographical boundaries, affecting populations everywhere.
"The polar ecosystem has lost 50 billion tons of ice, and since 1950, the temperature has increased by six degrees," Epstein said. "The major shift we are experiencing in our ecosystem is having major health implications."
Warming in 2007, Epstein said, is a harbinger of a disastrous 2080. He explained how the adverse effects of climate change stem from change in three major processes: the accelerated pace of ice melting that causes an accompanying rise in sea level, a warming ocean featuring more intense storms, and an "ocean conveyor belt" undergoing drastic changes.
In 1991, he explained, Epstein began studying the health consequences of climate change. Peru, he found, experienced an outbreak of cholera as a result of algal blooms on the coast. Because it was so early to hypothesize that climate affects health, however, Epstein and fellow doctors struggled to make their point.
"Of course nobody listened when we presented our data -- we were only doctors," Epstein said.
One journal, however, did take Epstein's claims seriously: The Wall Street Journal. The newspaper, Epstein explained, reported on the economic downturn in Peru's tourism sector that followed the cholera outbreak.
Epstein stressed the importance of looking beyond broad changes such as deforestation, temperature increases and migration; the causes of disease must also be watched.
As an example, he turned to the everyday mosquito, whose habitat has grown as temperatures rise.
"Mosquitoes, which can carry many diseases, are very sensitive to temperature changes," Epstein said. "Warming of their environment boosts their rates of production and is causing them to travel to high altitudes. These mosquitoes can carry malaria or dengue fever."
The lecture concluded with Epstein looking beyond the problem and turning to solutions.
"We have a lot to think about as we go down this road, including lots of questions to ask," he said, calling for a 60 to 80 percent reduction in emissions over the next few decades. "We are going to have to adapt to what is going on. We need energy -- for cooking, for schools, for computers, for life."
Epstein's appearance was sponsored by the College's environmental studies program.
Some students, enrolled in classes that required their attendance at the event, found the lecture surprisingly relevant.
"I probably wouldn't have attended the lecture if I didn't have to for my ENVS class," Ali Flanagan '10 said. "But I'm glad I did because it reminded me how big an impact global warming can potentially have, which is easy to forget when it's snowing here in April."
