Leslie P. King
Leslie P. King
Recent Stories
HEALTH COLUMN | King: Drought is damaging our planet
The advanced, industrial Anasazi culture of the southwestern United States reached its zenith between 1050 and 1125 A.D., before experiencing a dramatic collapse. No written record exists that explains this phenomenon. Climatic evidence, however, points to significant weather changes, such as the Great Drought.
HEALTH COLUMN | King: Innovation needed in food technology
An estimated 9 billion humans will live on Earth in 2050, effectively adding two Chinas to our current population.
King: Watch out for Lyme disease
Lyme disease, dubbed one of the “deadly dozen” by a recent Wildlife Conservation Society report, could skyrocket as global shifts in temperature and precipitation transform ecosystems. Vector-borne diseases such as Lyme are transmitted to humans by insects, and they, like the insects that act as the vectors, tend to be specific to a distinct ecosystem. But climate change may lead to a loss of these natural boundaries — generating a spike in rates of Lyme and other infectious diseases.
King: Malaria may return with global warming
Malaria is the most fatal of infectious diseases. Its daily death toll tops the number of casualties on Sept. 11th, 2001 and dwarfs the combined mortalities from AIDS and Tuberculosis. Americans are increasingly aware of the magnitude of this scourge. More and more elementary schools, church groups and bar mitzvahs are donating their collections to purchase malaria nets.