Hotter Planet: How will it hurt our health?  Q&A with ‘Fevered’
Author Linda Marsa  Image Linda Marsa  Discover magazine
Contributing Editor describes her soon-to-be-released non-
fiction book as a ‘natural off-shoot’ of her news reporting on
climate change. One suggestion: a ‘medical Marshall Plan.’
During the scorching and dry 2012 summer across much of North
America, West Nile virus spread across the U.S., made 4,500
people sick, and resulted in 183 deaths. Outbreaks of Dengue
fever and Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome also occurred. Scores of
Americans suffered health consequences from poor air quality,
heat waves, and fires.  And then came “Superstorm Sandy,” fueled
by abnormally high ocean temperatures along the Atlantic
seaboard. Sandy crashed into a massive cold front from Canada —
driven by the exceptional melting of Arctic ice in September.
The result created a hybrid storm of unprecedented proportions
and destruction, and another public health nightmare echoing the
perils that Hurricane Katrina had vi