The World Health Organization identified climate change as "single biggest health threat facing humanity in 2021,” having adverse impacts on water quality, food security and global economies. Additionally, a recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found changes to Earth’s climate in every region of the world, noting the unprecedented scale and speed in warming of the planet’s surface over the past 200 years.

To help address this problem, the American Society for Microbiology has issued a new report, “Microbes and Climate Change: Science, People, and Impacts,” examining the relationship between microbes and climate change. This report is the outcome of ASM’s November 2021 colloquium meeting, which brought together 30 experts — including Michigan State University’s James Tiedje — from diverse disciplines and sectors who provided multifaceted perspectives and insights. The American Academy of Microbiology, the scientific think tank within ASM, convened the colloquium.

To read more about the report, visit the College of Natural Science website.