These environments exist in relationships of mutual interaction through various transitional zones. Even a small change in one eventually affects the others over time. To prevent disruptions to ecosystem balance caused by changes that must remain within certain limits, winds and ocean currents have been assigned the role of transporting materials and maintaining equilibrium.

Nature’s calendar

Scientific data show that climate change is disrupting nature’s calendar. It causes plants to bloom earlier and shifts the breeding seasons of animals. Organisms such as mosquitoes that carry tropical diseases like malaria or dengue fever may spread farther north. Melting glaciers and changing rainfall patterns affect freshwater resources and aquatic life. Migration routes of animals change, and some species drive toward extinction. Drought-resistant plants increase while water-dependent species may disappear.

Climate conditions such as heat, cold, and the acidity of water are primary factors in the lives of animals and plants. These act as epigenetic factors influencing their bodies and functions. Both the outwardly visible characteristics (phenotypes) of living beings and their genetically encoded (genotypic) traits have been balanced in mutual harmony with environmental conditions. Indeed, biology as a whole is essentially the study of these delicate and wise balances established within living systems. From the harmony and proportion found in organs to the balance within cells and the order throughout the ecosystem, one is reminded of the wisdom behind the delicate measurements and balances as the following verses from the Qur’an convey: “Surely, We have created each and every thing by (precise) measure” (al-Qamar 54:49) and “…He Who has created seven heavens in harmony. You do not see any fault or incongruity in the creation of the All-Merciful. Look yet again: can you see any rifts?” (al-Mulk 67:3).  

In addition, ar-Rahman 55:5 draws attention to the movements of the Sun and Moon before mentioning the creation of life on earth and before the establishment of the sky (atmosphere) as a protective canopy; this alludes to the importance of the movements of these heavenly bodies are. Indeed, the tides in the oceans caused by the Moon and the effects of sunlight intensity on the reproduction of organisms such as corals reveal the interconnectedness of the Sun, Moon, atmosphere, and the ecosystem.  

The Qur’an also warns that this balance is being corrupted in the hands of mankind:

“Corruption has appeared on land and sea because of what people’s own hands have earned, so that God may let them taste some of the consequences of their deeds, in order that they may return to the right way.” (ar-Rum 30:41)

This verse openly points to disrupted ecological balances. The mention of corruption on land before sea may indicate that pollution and poisoning first begin on land and are then carried into rivers and seas through detergents, medicines, plastics, and other chemical waste produced by factories.

According to Mahasweta Saha, who studies marine chemistry and ecology at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, increasing carbon dioxide levels in water disrupt the sensory systems of water fleas (Daphnia), making it harder for them to escape predators. It has also been observed that some of the most beautiful fish living among coral reefs have increasing difficulty recognizing approaching predators and begin to lose their ability to learn.

At present, climate change is presented as the sole explanation for all these developments. Yet climate change is a broad and general expression, and much more research is required to understand the underlying mechanisms involved—such as the acidification of waters, the long-term accumulation of toxic chemical waste discharged into the seas, and the alteration of marine chemistry by atmospheric gases carried by rainfall. It is now recognized that climate change can alter the chemical communication and behavior of animals living in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments, with potentially far-reaching consequences for the future of our planet and the balance of ecosystems. The importance of communication systems based on chemical scent signals is critical not only for regulating behaviors such as reproduction, feeding, migration, caring for offspring, hunting, and predator avoidance, but also for maintaining ecosystem balance. The fragrant chemical substances called pheromones, secreted by insects and used for communication, are vitally important. They constitute the language by which insects find their nests, describe food sources to members of the colony, locate mates during breeding periods, and warn one another of danger. These chemicals can deteriorate when temperatures exceed certain limits, potentially overturning the entire life of ant colonies, for example. Among the various forms of communication between living beings—sound, color, bodily movements, and others—substances known as infochemicals serve as scent signals both on body surfaces and within the surrounding environment. The large numbers of seabirds washing ashore dead in masses have therefore become a serious concern for ecologists.

Infochemicals influence a wide range of functions and behaviors, including predator-prey relationships. For example, sharks can detect the scent of these chemicals released by prey from astonishing distances. A shark can detect the smell of blood at concentrations as low as one part per million from as far as eight kilometers away. Likewise, any scent we perceive may in fact originate from an infochemical created for the protection or nourishment of another species. For instance, when we walk through a pine forest and detect its scent, that smell signals the presence of certain chemical compounds, yet the same scent we feel evokes entirely different responses in a human being, a bear, a reptile, or an ant.  

Some infochemicals secreted by plants attract insects necessary for pollination while repelling those that might harm them. The fact that an unconscious plant synthesizes selective chemical substances and “knows” which insect species will assist it leaves the mind in amazement. In some cases, a plant under insect attack may even release chemicals warning neighboring plants of approaching danger.

The larvae of barnacles (Balanus), which attach themselves to the bottoms of boats and dock pillars, select suitable surfaces through these infochemical molecules. Certain bat species can identify the healthiest mates—with the greatest genetic diversity and the highest likelihood of producing surviving offspring—through scent alone.

Changing Infochemicals

Climate change is disrupting and altering the production of information-carrying chemical substances such as pheromones. It has been shown that every factor associated with climate change—temperature, carbon dioxide, pH levels, and others—can become disturbed and thereby disrupt the essential processes organisms use to communicate with one another.

Climate change is also reducing escape behaviors in some fish species by weakening their fear responses toward potential predators. Many fish release specific chemical substances when injured by predators or otherwise threatened. Other fish detect these warning chemicals through smell and flee. However, according to both experiments and initial field observations, when more CO₂ is absorbed into water and pH levels decline, hypoxanthine-3-N-oxide—the best studied alarm signal—undergoes irreversible changes, making it more difficult for fish to detect. Rising carbon dioxide lowers pH, increasing acidification. Ocean acidification makes it more difficult for shell-forming organisms such as mollusks and corals to build their calcium carbonate shells. Increased CO₂ levels in fish blood also trigger behavioral disorders, while rising heavy metal concentrations damage the nervous system and make it harder for fish to escape predators.

In an article published in The Conversation, Dr. Sevrine Sailley states that European fish species are migrating toward new waters. The alteration of chemical signals by climate change creates stress throughout ecosystems and causes informational disruption. According to current models, if climate change accelerates, atmospheric and marine disturbances may become far more severe. Some estimates suggest that by the end of this century North Sea cod and Alaska pollock populations may decline by 30–40 percent. Atlantic mackerel abundance may decrease by 25 percent, while sardines may experience only a modest 5 percent increase despite shifting 245 kilometers northward. Tuna populations may increase by 40 percent; however, bluefin tuna are predators that feed on herring, mackerel, and other schooling fish. Thus, an increase in tuna would not be welcome news for fisheries but rather a cause for concern.

According to projections, other predators such as dolphins, seals, and seabirds will also be affected by climate change and may struggle to obtain their preferred fish species. The pressure on fish populations will further increase if overfishing continues in the Northeast Atlantic fisheries, 24 percent of which are already considered unsustainable.

By 2050, if a “moderate” emissions path is followed, waters surrounding the United Kingdom are expected to warm by approximately 1°C. If emissions continue rising uncontrollably, the increase could reach 2–3°C by the end of the century. At the same time, the food sources fish depend on—such as small plankton—may decline by up to 30 percent.

If global warming leads to breakdowns in chemical communication between the environment and plants and animals, or between disease-causing pathogens and the organisms they infect, it seems inevitable that we humans—living within the same ecosystem—will also be affected.

To prevent these potential disaster scenarios, research projects aimed at preserving ecological balances should be encouraged in light of the principles outlined in the holy scriptures: viewing nature not as a commodity to be exploited but as a trust from our Creator; avoiding excessive consumption and wastefulness; and refraining from placing ourselves in danger through our own hands. Humanity must carefully consider what its actions bring about and what they take away while safeguarding the Divine wisdom and measures embedded within the ecosystem.

At the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, countries signed an agreement on a series of measures to address climate change. The agreement includes key decisions such as a commitment to phase out coal, regular reviews of emission reduction plans and more financial support for developing countries. Climate change, which can be defined as “changes in the average state and variability of the climate over decades or longer, regardless of cause,” is in fact the scream that resonates off the walls of the ecosystem. Unless addressed in tandem with population growth, migration, rapid and unplanned urbanization, surging scarcity in resources and food, extreme poverty, socioeconomic inequality, infectious diseases, and pandemics, climate change will cause erratic and insurmountable problems facing humanity and, as during the recent COVID-19 pandemic, it can upset established social behavior patterns.

The greatest danger knocking at our door

In 2021, the World Health Organization declared climate change “the greatest health threat facing humanity.” Climate change and increasing carbon dioxide emissions cause extreme heat, environmental destruction, and difficulties in the water and food supplies. Using fossil fuels, the main source of greenhouse gases, leads to air pollution and associated premature deaths. Increases in carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, ozone, and respirable particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns are the main drivers of air pollution. The vicious cycle between climate change and air pollution is associated with reproductive, respiratory, and cardiovascular diseases, as well as public health problems such as diabetes, cancer, premature aging, and psychiatric diseases. Climate change causes an increase in air pollution through extreme temperature and weather events (hurricanes, floods, droughts), natural (wildfire smoke, dust storms), and human and animal factors (air conditioning, litter). It also contributes to infectious diseases through expanded habitats for disease vectors such as mosquitoes and ticks, and to non-communicable diseases through increasing food shortages, malnutrition, and longer and more intense pollen seasons.

Temperatures and Drought

Although humankind is not fully aware of the impending catastrophe, the gravity of the situation is highlighted by reports on Europe experiencing its driest spell in 500 years, with more than half of the continent facing the threat of drought. Drought threatens not only Europe but the whole world, leading to water and food shortages as well as an increase in forest fires. It is noted that around 2.3 billion people live in areas at risk of drought, that drought has directly caused the deaths of 650,000 people in the last 50 years, and that millions of children are still affected by severe and prolonged drought. It is also estimated that as many as 3.5 billion people could face “unlivable” temperatures in the next 50 years because of human-induced climate change. As more people are impacted by drought, chronic poverty, war, or chaos, they will continue to migrate to “milder” locales.

Impact on marine ecosystems and ocean pollution

The quality of marine environments is also essential for protecting public health. Environmental pollution, contamination by chemicals, and pathogenic microbes hurt marine ecosystems; marine pollution also threatens marine animals and human health. Ocean pollution, exacerbated by global climate change, also negatively affects these ecosystems, with petroleum-based pollutants causing a decrease in photosynthesis in oxygen-producing organisms. Increased carbon dioxide absorption in the seas causes acidification, negatively affecting coral reefs, disrupting shellfish growth, dissolving calcium-containing microorganisms at the base of the marine food web, and increasing toxic effects from pollutants. Meanwhile, plastic pollution, which accumulates in large mid-ocean gyres and threatens marine mammals, fish, and seabirds, decomposes into chemical micro- and nano-plastic particles that enter the tissues of many marine organisms, including those consumed by humans. Industrial sewage increases the frequency and impact of harmful algal blooms, bacterial pollution, and anti-microbial resistance, while dangerous pathogens such as Vibrio species and other factors result in global declines in fish stocks.

Effects of air pollution

Climate change puts the three pillars of health—nutrition, shelter, and access to water—at risk. For instance, natural disasters destroy crops and people’s homes and contaminate safe water sources. This leads to malnutrition and water-borne diseases and contributes to 12.6 million preventable deaths in the world each year due to climate change. Since more than half of these deaths are caused by exposure to air pollution, it is clear that there is an association between climate change and air pollution and other environmental exposures. Longer wildfire seasons lead to more smoke exposure; climate change affects ozone and particulate matter formation by increasing the rate of chemical reactions in the atmosphere and increases the amount of pollen by extending the pollen season. The direct effect of each event is airway inflammation and lung damage due to the production of reactive oxidants. Ambient ozone and chronic accumulation of particulate matter in alveolar macrophages, impaired phagocytosis, oxidative stress, and poor mucociliary clearance jointly trigger airway inflammation. In addition to weakened antioxidant defenses, immunological and epigenetic (environmentally induced) changes play a role in the pathogenesis of lung diseases such as asthma and chronic bronchitis. Toxic effects in the respiratory tract and lungs eventually impact the cardiovascular system, causing autonomic disorders and increased inflammation. Ultimately, climate change-induced air pollution affects nearly every organ system (including the lungs, heart, kidneys, brain, and nervous system) through a complex interplay of increased oxidative stress, systemic inflammation, and immune dysregulation.

What can be done?

Climate change negatively affects several social determinants, such as equity, livelihoods, and access to health and social support services. Its impacts are felt disproportionately by the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, including women, children, ethnic minorities and impoverished communities, migrants or the elderly, and those with disabilities. Due to climate change, health services are in greater demand, while infrastructure is negatively affected. Faced with these challenges, experts recommend climate change adaptation and mitigation actions. Climate change adaptation means preparing society for actions and is known as the ‘secondary prevention.’ This is about improving people’s ability to cope with changes—such as increased cases of asthma and malaria or mental illness caused by forced migration—and giving them ease of access to health services. More importantly, it is also about tackling the causes and putting in place the “primary preventions.”

The earth is a trust on the shoulders of humanity. We humans should act as stewards of God on earth, to respect this trust and protect it meticulously. Measures like afforestation and preventing waste should be emphasized. Since the estimated (2.5 billion) tons of food waste ending up in landfills annually contribute to about 10% of greenhouse gas emissions, we must avoid waste and sort our garbage for recycling.

As a requirement of social responsibility, we should support efforts in finding solutions to problems like the global change. Since this social responsibility imposes on us the mission of “leaving our world and its entire eco-systems clean and problem-free for future generations,” we should contribute to the formation of a more livable world by prioritizing the protection of the environment. Climate change and the deterioration of the ecological balance remind us of this fundamental duty, and we must not hesitate to take responsibility for combating climate change for both individual and public health.

References

• Churruca-Muguruza C. The Changing Context of Humanitarian Action: Key Challenges and Issues. In: International Humanitarian Action, Springer, 2018, pp. 3–18.
• World Health Organization. COP26 special report on climate change and health: the health argument for climate change. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2021.
• Keswani A, Akselrod H, Anenberg SC. Health and clinical impacts of air pollution and linkages with climate change. NEJM Evid, 2022;1(7).
• Toreti A, et al. Drought in Europe August 2022, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2022, doi:10.2760/264241, JRC130493. https://edo.jrc.ec.europa.eu/documents/news/GDO-EDODroughtNews202208_Europe.pdf
• Xu C, Kohler TA, Lenton TM, Svenning JC, Scheffer M. Future of the human climate niche. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2020;117(21):11350-11355.
• Landrigan PJ, et al. Human Health and Ocean Pollution. Ann Glob Health 2020;86(1):151.

Climate change is the main cause of fires

Zhuang et al. Quantifying contributions of natural variability and anthropogenic forcings on increased fire weather risk over the western United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. November 2021

New research showed that climate change has been the primary cause of the large wildfires in the western US that destroyed substantial land over the past two decades. Between 2001 and 2018, the size of the land destroyed every year is 13,500 square kilometers, which is twice as much as between 1984-2000. How much of this massive increase was caused by human-induced climate change and how much could be explained by natural atmospheric and climate variation have been an intensive debate. To address this major question, scientists specifically focused on the factors that control “vapor pressure deficit” (VPD), which measures the amount of moisture the air can hold when it is saturated minus the amount of moisture in the air. The greater the deficit, the more water is drawn into air from soil and plants which ultimately dry out and become conductive to fires. Strikingly, analyses of VPD data between 1979-2020 showed that 68% of the increase in VPD is due to global warming. The natural atmospheric variations were only responsible for the remaining 32% increase. These findings suggest that the western United States have passed a critical threshold in which human-induced climate warming now plays a greater role for the increase of vapor pressure deficit than natural variations in atmospheric circulation. This also shows that the effects of climate change are accelerating faster than society is equipped to deal with. And most of this rapid change seemed to have occurred since the beginning of the 21st century, much earlier than everyone anticipated. Greenhouse gases generated by human activity, primarily fossil fuel use, has already warmed our planet about 1.1 C° since the pre-industrial era. Global warming will likely continue to intensify conditions that dry out the landscape. This means, unfortunately, a higher risk of more severe fire conditions in the US and the rest of the world.

Eco-friendly flying microchips

Kim et al. Three-dimensional electronic microfliers inspired by wind-dispersed seeds. Nature. September 2021.

Engineers recently developed the smallest ever human-designed flying machine: a flying computer chip with the size of a sand grain. The main goal of the project was to develop miniaturized electronic devices to sense the environment for contamination monitoring, population surveillance or disease tracking. The team first analyzed the aerodynamics of wind-dispersed seeds of tristellateia plant and tried to understand how air flows around these microfliers. It is common for engineers to copy elements of nature to produce objects that behave in certain ways within certain environments, a concept called “biomimicry.” Tristellateia seeds have bladed wings that catch the wind to fall with a slow and rotating spin. By studying tristellateia seeds, engineers unravel the ideal structures for slow and controlled flight, which would provide the microfliers disperse over a broad area and stay in the air for a long time to better monitor the air. The microfliers consist of two major parts: millimeter-sized electronic functional components and their wings. As the microflyer falls through the air, its wings interact with the air to generate a slow, stable rotational motion. The engineers can now integrate a variety of electronics into these microchips, including circuits to detect airborne particles, sensors to monitor water quality, light detectors to measure sunlight, electronics to harvest and store energy from light, a CPU and memory, and an antenna to wirelessly transfer data to a smartphone, tablet, or computer. These miniature devices can generate massive amounts of data, but also massive amounts of garbage. Thus, the team aims to produce an environment-friendly dissolvable microlfyer. To this end, they have already started to use degradable polymers, compostable conductors and dissolvable integrated circuit chips that would naturally vanish into environmentally benign end products when exposed to water.

Targeted brain stimulation to treat mental illness

Basu et al. Closed-loop enhancement and neural decoding of cognitive control in humans. Nature Biomedical Engineering. November 2021.

A recent landmark pilot study showed that artificial intelligence merged with targeted electrical brain stimulation by brain implants can now improve specific human brain functions related to self-control and mental flexibility. Strikingly, brain implants in this new method were able to successfully sense the electrical biomarkers of cognitive deficits and respond by stimulating specific brain regions. For the study, researchers recruited 12 subjects who are undergoing brain surgery for epilepsy, in which hundreds of tiny electrodes are placed throughout the brain to record its activity and pinpoint where seizures originate. Researchers then used all this data to identify unique areas of the brain called the “internal capsule” that they believe is responsible for cognitive control. The internal capsule is thought to involve in the process of transitioning from one thought pattern or behavior to another, which is impaired in most mental illnesses. In an example of depression case, affected person typically can’t get out of a “negative thought.” An integrated machine learning algorithm also helped the team isolate the patients’ control abilities from their brain activity and their actions. At the end, the system was able to read brain activity, decode from that when a patient is having difficulty and apply a small burst of electrical stimulation to the brain to boost them past that difficulty. Researchers think this system is a lot like an electric bike. When someone is pedaling but having difficulty, the bike senses it and augments it. They have basically made the equivalent of that for human mental function. Some of the patients in the study had significant anxiety in addition to their epilepsy. When given the cognitive-enhancing stimulation, they reported that their anxiety got better, because they were more able to shift their thoughts away from their distress and focus on what they wanted. This method offers a whole new approach in treating mental illness where most interventions are typically developed to suppress symptoms. But now the new method can provide patients a tool that allows them take control of their own minds. The team is almost ready for clinical trials. Since improving cognitive control by deep brain stimulation is already approved by the FDA, translation of this care to current medical practice could be relatively faster.

After two decades of failures, scientists have finally cloned monkeys using somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), the same method that was used for the first animal clone, Dolly the sheep, over 20 years ago. Long-tailed macaques Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua were born in early December at a laboratory in China. SCNT is a type of cloning that involves taking the nucleus from any cell in the adult animal to be cloned and injecting it into the cell of a fertilized egg, whose nucleus has been removed. Since Dolly, 23 other species have also been cloned using SCNT, including cows, horses, cats, and pigs.  However, transitioning from cloning sheep to cloning primates proved far more difficult than expected. Scientists removed the DNA-containing nucleus from monkey eggs and replaced it with DNA from the monkey fetus. The newly reconstituted eggs grew, divided, and finally differentiated into an early embryo, which was then placed into female monkeys to grow until birth. The whole process is extremely inefficient, as it took 127 eggs to get the two babies. While the researchers are optimistic that the ability to have genetically identical monkeys will allow unprecedented insights into human diseases, these experiments prompted concerns that the technical barrier of cloning primate species and humans is now broken.

An unexpected culprit behind climate change

Rysgaard S et al. High geothermal heat flux in close proximity to the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream. Scientific Reports, January 2018.

Greenland is a critical component of the global climate system. The ice sheet covering 80% of the island reflects so much of the sun’s energy back into space that it helps keep the Earth cooler. This is known as the “albedo effect.” But Greenland is particularly vulnerable to climate change, as Arctic air temperatures are currently rising at twice the average global rate. The Greenland ice sheet is up to three kilometers thick; if it melted, sea levels would rise by seven meters. The current rate of melting is adding about 1 millimeter a year to the average global sea level. A new study has revealed yet another force expediting the melting of glaciers. Researchers showed, for the first time, that the deep bottom water of the North-eastern Greenland fjords is being warmed up by heat gradually lost from the Earth’s interior. This heat loss triggers the sliding of glaciers from the ice sheet towards the sea. This source of heat, also called the geothermal heat flux, is found all over the planet and dates back to Earth’s formation. The warming and melting from below the ice sheets lubricates the interface between the ice and the ground, resulting in a much faster ice flow.  The findings from the latest study are expected to improve the models of ice sheet dynamics, allowing better predictions of the stability of the Greenland ice sheet, its melting, and the resulting global water rise.

The powerhouses of our cells run at a sizzling 50°C

Chrétien D. et al. Mitochondria are physiologically maintained at close to 50 °C. PLOS Biology, January 2018.

Our body temperature runs between 35 to 38 °C, at an average of 37.5 °C. The heat needed to maintain this temperature comes from tiny subcellular structures called mitochondria. A new study presents surprising evidence that mitochondria are optimized to run more than 10°C hotter than the body’s average temperature. There are tens or hundreds of mitochondria in each cell and their job is to combust nutrients, producing energy and heat at the last stage of food consumption. 40% of the energy released from mitochondria is captured in the form of a chemical compound, ATP, which is used to drive functions of the body such as heartbeats, brain activity, and muscle contractions; the remaining 60% is dissipated as heat. To analyze the internal dynamics of mitochondria, researchers grew human kidney cells and skin cells in tissue cultures at 38 °C, with heat-sensing fluorescent dyes inserted into the cells. When the mitochondria became active, the level of fluorescent signal was rapidly changed to indicate a rise of 10°C within the mitochondria. Scientists suggest that mitochondria seem to operate much like radiators in a poorly insulated room, running at a much higher temperature than their surroundings. They also showed that several human mitochondrial enzymes operate at an optimum temperature close to 50°C, supporting the scientist’s interpretation of the molecular thermometer data. Researchers now are very interested in answering whether there are correlated temperature fluctuations in health conditions that are caused by mitochondrial dysfunction, such as neurodegenerative diseases and aging.