Kate Lunau is covering the 2012 annual meeting of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science in Vancouver, a
gathering of some of the world’s finest brains and celebrities
of science. On Feb. 16-20, Lunau will bring you a sneak peak of
the latest research and findings, posting to Macleans.ca on
anything from healthcare and climate change, to food security,
and more. Follow Kate on Twitter:@Katelunau , #AAAS, #AAASmtg.
On Saturday morning at the AAAS Meeting in Vancouver, scientists
were talking about the implications of a warming world. As part
of one symposium called “Make it Fit,” looking at how to support
a decent standard of living for our planet’s growing population,
I caught a talk from economist Michael Hanemann about how water
demands will shift due to climate change. Already, he said,
there are 2.8 million deaths per year due to contaminated water.
But scarcity isn’t the main problem; access is, and that
requires plumbing to bring the water to people, which can be
expensive. Climate chan