#  The Environment Forum with David Jones | "Inherently Limited by Our Imaginations:" Health Anxieties, Politics, and the History of the Climate Crisis 

 



####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **February 22, 2024** 

 12:00PM - 12:00PM EST 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **Plimpton Room (Barker Center 133)**  



 

 



 

##    ![david_jones_ef_banner.png](/sites/g/files/omnuum4936/files/styles/hwp_1_1__960x960_scale/public/mahindra/files/david_jones_ef_banner.png?itok=Knt6SRKA) 

 



##  [THE ENVIRONMENT FORUM](/environment-forum)

##  SPEAKER: David Jones

 [REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT](https://mahindrahumanities.formstack.com/forms/david_jones_environment_lunch)

 *Please note that this event is open to Harvard affiliates only and registration is required.*

###  About the Event

 As global warming became a cause of concern in the 1980s, researchers and climate activists initially paid little attention to the possible health effects of a warmer world. This changed quickly between 1985 and 1989, when scientists working on contracts with the US Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency extrapolated from existing knowledge about the impact of weather on health to speculate about how global warming would impact health. However, they downplayed the impact of their contributions by highlighting the uncertainty in their models and the adaptability of human societies. Since that time, physicians and other health scientists have maintained a steady drumbeat of warnings about the health effects of global warming. They have published widely in the medical literature and participated actively in international scientific collaborations. Their research has significantly increased the breadth and depth of climate-health science and shown that measurable impacts of global warming have already begun. But as the many climate crises of 2023 show, action against global warming remains inadequate. Is it still reasonable to hope that health advocacy will incite communities and politicians to act? The history of climate and health advocacy reveals many obstacles that must be overcome.

###  About the Speaker

 [David Jones](https://histsci.fas.harvard.edu/people/david-s-jones) is the A. Bernard Ackerman Professor of the Culture of Medicine at Harvard. His initial research focused on epidemics among American Indians, resulting in a book, *Rationalizing Epidemics: Meanings and Uses of American Indian Mortality since 1600*. His next project, *Broken Hearts: The Tangled History of Cardiac Care*, examined the history of decision making in cardiac therapeutics. He has published widely in the *New England Journal of Medicine*, *American Journal of Public Health*, *Bulletin of the History of Medicine*, and the *Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences* and other venues, on these two topics as well as about human subjects research, Cold War medicine, HIV, planetary health, race, and the COVID-19 pandemic. He is currently at work on four other book projects, including histories of the evolution of coronary artery surgery, of heart disease and cardiac therapeutics in India, and of the threat of air pollution to health in both India and the United States.

 This event is co-sponsored by the [Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability](https://salatainstitute.harvard.edu/)

###  About the Series

 [The Environment Forum](/environment-forum) at the Mahindra Center is convened by [Robin Kelsey](https://haa.fas.harvard.edu/people/robin-kelsey), Dean of Arts and Humanities, Harvard University and [Sarah Dimick](https://english.fas.harvard.edu/people/sarah-dimick), Assistant Professor of English, Harvard University.



 

 



 

 See also:- [ Environment Forum ](/event-series/environment-forum)
- [ Public ](/event-type/public)
 
 

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