News
Wildlife experts have developed a regional computer model – and user-friendly app – that predicts counties in 16 states where wildlife managers should target their surveillance of chronic wasting disease in deer, helping them conserve scarce money and labor...
Small-scale fishers on Lake Victoria (Africa’s largest freshwater lake, shared by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) are drowning. Safety issues such as storms, a lack of available life jackets, and a shortage of navigational equipment and rescue services are a major cause of this. Existing studies have found that climate change is projected to increase the frequency and intensity of thunderstorms in east Africa. One of the places that will be affected is Lake Victoria, with thunderstorms becoming much more windy, with more intense rain, and up to 10 times more frequent by 2100. This will make the lake one of the most dangerous stretches of water in the world for small-scale fishers…
As a registered nurse and director of patient services for the Chautauqua County Health Department in western New York, Wendy Douglas conducted case investigations and monitoring during the COVID-19 pandemic. The experience laid bare the disparities public health departments are designed to address but not all workers are equipped to encounter. “Very few of our health department’s employees have any public health background when they start working here, and it sometimes shows,” Douglas said. “For example, there can be a lack of understanding of health equity.” The issue is nationwide in scale. On-the-job experience is the only source of public health training for most professionals in governmental agencies. Only…
Last week, the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine celebrated hooding and graduation for its degree programs, a meaningful milestone for students that recognized the successful completion of their studies at Cornell Cornell Public Health celebrated...
Fatal drownings are a big risk for small-scale fishers on Africa’s largest lake, with many of those deaths attributed to bad weather – conditions that are likely to worsen with climate change, according to a new study. Lake Victoria – bordering Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda – is heavily fished by some 200,000 fishers, in spite of frequent severe thunderstorms and its reputation as one of the most dangerous bodies of water in the world. These findings are especially concerning considering that thunderstorms, wind and rain are predicted to become more intense and up to 10 times more frequent by the end of the century, the authors note in the study, published May 22 in the journal PLOS ONE…
Dr. Alistair Hayden, assistant professor of practice in the Department of Public and Ecosystem Health, and a former division chief at the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, has authored a policy memo on incorporating smoke waves into disaster policy. He says many more people die from wildfire smoke than from the fire itself. “As wildfire season gets underway, it is important to remember wildfire smoke is hazardous to your health, and there are ways to protect yourself and your community from its impacts,” Hayden says. “Check the AirNow Fire and Smoke Map for the latest air quality information.” Hayden goes on to note the impacts of wildfire smoke. “Many wildfire-smoke deaths occur during the…
Dr. Kathryn Fiorella, Assistant Professor in the Department of Public and Ecosystem Health, researches how changes in the environment affect the well-being, economic stability, and food security of communities. One area where all those concerns intersect are global fisheries. “Sometimes it’s the overharvest of resources,” she explains. “Other times it’s climate impacts, and harmful algal blooms.” Fishing makes up a large part of many populations’ dietary needs and Fiorella studies how the “ecological system and the social system are interwoven.” At this intersection, she sees how community-level decisions influence and are influenced by the environment…
One year since Dead & Company’s show at Barton Hall, proceeds from the fundraiser are generating momentum for faculty-led climate research-to-impact efforts, and now the Climate Solutions Fund is announcing its inaugural grant recipients. “The Climate Solutions Fund and Fast Grants are launching new research, and the 2030 Project is helping to catalyze investments in cutting-edge climate work across the university,” said Ben Furnas ’06, executive director of the 2030 Project, highlighting the new, first-in-the-nation animal respiration chambers to study solutions to reduce livestock methane; the launch of the ILR School’s Climate Jobs Institute; funding of more than $600,000 to a startup that will accelerate the commercialization…
In the vacant former Ulta Beauty space at The Shops at Ithaca Mall, eye-catching displays on a recent Saturday featured not cosmetics but brightly colored sticky notes, magic marker drawings, file cards, masking tape, yarn, pipe cleaners and Play-Doh Equipped with...
As FAS gets ready to officially kick off its Day One 2025 effort and looks back to the origins of Day One, it’s essential to also recognize the important policy innovations our community surfaced after that initial tranche of memos. It’s also useful to reflect on how FAS, as an organization, has developed institutional infrastructure to support more policy entrepreneurs, and to fully capitalize on policy windows – when those windows open widest. There may be no better example bringing all of these elements together than the work FAS staff, our partner organizations, and budding policy entrepreneurs have done and continue to do to change the way the U.S. addresses the wildfire crisis. The genesis of this work dates back to the…
African swine fever (ASF) is a viral hemorrhagic disease that has spread globally and killed more than half the world’s population of pigs since 2007 A new paper by researchers at Cornell and Makerere University in Uganda confirms that a species of ticks is...
