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Engineering and Environmental Challenges Technical Symposium on Earth Systems Engineering (2002) / Chapter Skim
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Defining What We Need to Know
Pages 67-72

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 67...
... New knowledge is usually a good thing, but all new knowledge is not equally useful; in some cases, existing knowledge may be sufficient to enable action. In the areas of global climate change and human health, for example, research agendas have strongly focused on advancing our fundamental understanding of climate dynamics and molecular genetics.
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From page 68...
... You may remember that in July 2000 torrential typhoon rains caused a huge landslide in the Promised Land that buried more than 200 people under a mountain of garbage. To me, this horrific event provides a powerful indicator of how we should be thinking about the impacts of climate on people and about human adaptation.
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From page 69...
... Until recently, efforts to connect climate research to specific social outcomes, such as reducing people's vulnerability to climate and weather and improving management of water resources, have been afterthoughts at best, modestly funded typically at a level of about 5 percent of total program supportand poorly integrated into larger programs. However, researchers on the human dimensions of climate change are beginning to understand how to generate
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From page 70...
... , 1997 FIGURE 2 GDP per capita versus disability-adjusted life expectancy. Source: World Health Organization, 2000.
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From page 71...
... As these examples of the interactions between public health and climate change illustrate, science policy is often not well aligned with social needs even if proponents have explicitly invoked those needs to justify the science in the first place. This misalignment reflects a failure to think carefully about what we need to know to address a given problem, a failure to define problems in a way that can stimulate positive action.
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From page 72...
... Geneva: World Health Organization. Available online at (December 6, 2001)
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Key Terms

  • people living
  • developing world
  • climate dynamics
  • poor people
  • garbage dumps

  • fundamental understanding
  • complete knowledge
  • promised land
  • impoverished people
  • perspective provide

  • challenges require
  • total program
  • improving management
  • interventions useful
  • require putting

  • widely held
  • changing climate
  • expectancy remains
  • stygian mists
  • environment fall

  • human dimensions
  • fall disproportionately
  • safe shelter
  • gas emissions
  • environmental degradation

  • torrential typhoon
  • effective research
  • implementing changes
  • coastal regions
  • event provides


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