Eco Feature – August 23, 2018

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In today’s Eco Feature, WFHB’s environmental correspondent Norm Holy talks with Dr. Gabriel Filippelli of Indiana University’s Department of Earth Sciences. Dr. Filippelli is the lead author on a study examining the impact of climate change on human health.

Dr Filippelli says climate change has already impacted our health over the past thirty years. For example, warmer winters and wetter springs have encouraged the northern migration of tick and mosquito species that carry tropical diseases. He points to a four-fold increase in mosquitoes in central Indiana, and a four- hundred percent increase in Lyme disease cases.

Using new climate change models specifically designed for Indiana, Fillipelli says the study team can now forecast climate change and its health impact for the next one-hundred years.