Big Picture: Health and Climate Change published

9 January 2009

The Earth’s climate is changing ever faster, and human activities play a role in speeding up this change. The latest issue in the ‘Big Picture’ series examines how the consequences of climate change affect our health.

Humans are consuming the Earth's resources and emitting pollutants on a scale never seen before. While many living creatures have felt the impact of these activities, now it is humans who are beginning to suffer - victims, perhaps, of past successes.

'Big Picture: Health and Climate Change' focuses on health impacts. Its starting point is the scientific consensus that climate change is happening and is driven principally by human activities.

The 'Big Picture' educational series, a free post-16 resource for teachers that explores issues around biology and medicine, now features a new magazine-style look. A free full-sized poster that explores the connections between the carbon cycle and climate change accompanies the issue.

Visit the newly redesigned ‘Big Picture’ online to order a free copy of the magazine and access web-exclusive content, including additional articles as well as Climate Health Challenge, an interactive activity in which students must make policy decisions to try to sustain the health of the global community.