Tag: evolução

By Begoña Pérez-Cabezas, ICBAS

PORTO - Climate change is a natural process. Our planet has been colder and warmer than it is today. However, human activities are inducing very rapid warming, mainly due to the emission of greenhouse gases that act like a blanket around the Earth, trapping heat and increasing temperatures. The main greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide and methane. In addition to the use of fossil fuels, agriculture and landfills are the main emitters. Deforestation also contributes to the increase in greenhouse gases.

Climate change intensifies extreme meteorological phenomena such as floods, droughts, forest fires and windstorms, contributing to humanitarian emergencies. It also increases direct heat-related illnesses and deaths, alters the transmission patterns of infectious diseases, influences the spread of vector-borne diseases (such as malaria and dengue fever) and jeopardises food and water security. In addition, the increase in demand for health services resulting from all this hampers the system's ability to respond.

Importantly, the impacts of climate change are strongly mediated by environmental and social determinants. Children, the elderly, people with pre-existing health problems, ethnic minorities, poor communities, migrants or displaced people are the most vulnerable. Worsening climate change could certainly hinder the global goal of reducing poverty. Nor should we forget that this warming affects not only humans, but also other living beings - animals and plants.

And because everything on Earth is connected, changes in one area can influence all the others. That's why we can all help reduce the impact of climate change through our decisions. Choosing greener transport, better energy options and sustainably sourced food will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The choices we make today can influence the world in the future.

Image credits: Pixabay

By Luísa Azevedo, ICBAS

PORTO - The history of human evolution seems to be lost in time when our limited time does not leave us time to contemplate it. However, the milestones of this million-year history continues to fascinate generations because one of our main wonders is to understand our most distant origins. This is a trail with many milestones, important milestones and seemingly less relevant milestones, but which were the basis of other adaptations. One of these important milestones was the development of the vision. We are visual beings. Our eyes are adapted to perceive light, color, movement, and the others, living and non-living. Another important milestone was the gradual anatomical adaptations that led to bipedalism, and which allowed a broader perception of the world around us, freeing our hands to build tools, shelter and the quest for food. Then, time arrived for the development of our brain and our unique cognitive abilities, which entrust us with the responsibility of taking care of the world around us, and the other living beings.

As we discuss, and want to continue discussing about the importance of the approach that integrates the environment, humans and all other living beings, i.e. the One Health , it is worth thinking about how we got here, our evolutionary process, and the way we have always interacted with Nature, but also how we will continue to do so. From a perspective of historical legacy, perhaps centuries or millennia from now, someone may write about how this One Health multidisciplinary approach marked another significant step in our ongoing journey.

Image Credits: Luísa Azevedo