Program on Global Sustainability & Health

focusing on solutions with research, education, practice and policy change

Examples of Ongoing Projects

RESEARCH

Masters' and doctoral students at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health are working on important research projects that address many of the issues of global environmental change. Examples include the following:

• Land use: Jing Feng, PhD student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, is working on a large-scale epidemiologic study of the built environment (including the local food environment) and obesity among children in 30 counties in Pennsylvania. 
• Land use and energy issues: Ann Liu, PhD student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, is studying the community and individual health impacts of the burden of abandoned mine lands in 67 counties in Pennsylvania.
• Food production: Study of pesticide exposures and neurodegenerative disease in rural areas of Pennsylvania.
• Climate change: David Lessens, MPH student, is doing formative research on knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and obstacles to behavior change as relevant to climate change, global environmental change, and “after peak oil.” 
• Energy use: Nate Link, MPH student, is doing formative research to reduce energy use at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
• Climate change, land use and food production: Mary Sheehan, MPH student, is doing a literature review of health effects of climate change in Brazil to inform Brazilian national policy through the World Bank.

EDUCATION

Graduate Students

• Research and advocacy training for Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health students. The Master's in Public Health Concentration in Global Environmental Sustainability and Health will better equip future public health leaders to address the challenges of global environmental change.

Health Professionals

• Learn what health care workers and the environmental health community can do to address the issues of global environmental change.
• Learn what you can do to obtain renewable energy in Baltimore, prepared by Brent Kim, MHS student.

PRACTICE

A conference held in April 2007, The Heat is Rising: What You Need to Know about Climate Change and Public Health, brought together more than 200 health professionals, academics and students to learn more about global environmental change. A second conference on After Peak Oil is planned for 2008.

POLICY

Dr. Brian S. Schwartz and Dr. Cindy L. Parker represent the public health perspective on the Maryland Climate Change Commission, a panel of climate change content experts and stakeholders established by Governor Martin O'Malley to determine the best course of action for Maryland to follow to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. Dr. Parker is a member of the Mitigation Working Group and serves on the Forestry, Agriculture, and Waste subgroup and the Crosscutting Issues subgroup. Dr. Schwartz is a member of the Science and Technical Working Group.

Dr. Parker reviewed the science behind the various climate change bills introduced recently in Congress as well as Maryland's efforts, through the Maryland Climate Change Commission, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the absence of definitive federal action.

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