The Great Lakes Climate Change

12/3/09

format for printing

Review of Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region

Take home message:
“Nothing happens in a vacuum”
A summary of the lecture shows that there is good news and bad news.  The BAD NEWS is that climate change is altering the character of the Great Lakes region already, and this alteration will be more intense in the future.  The GOOD NEWS is that there are common sense solutions available today that will minimize the most negative impacts.

• Main Terms to understand:

  Ecosystem “services”

  Main Concepts:

  • Although climate change has been occurring throughout the history of Earth, the current rate of change is (and will be) faster than humans have probably ever experienced.
  • The scientific community is now certain that the climate is changing, and it is highly likely that humans are causing the change.  The uncertainty lies in determining the exact amount that the climate will change.
  • Climate change is already impacting the character of the Great Lakes region.  Some examples of changes include:
  • increasing temperatures
  • shorter winters, earlier springs
  • more extreme rainfall events
  • shorter ice cover on lakes
  • Climate change will not occur in a vacuum.  The changing climate and resulting environmental changes will interact with existing health and environmental concerns, and in many instances make them worse.  When considering future impacts of climate change, it is important to consider these interactions with other changes such as land-use alterations, increasing pollution, and so on.  (Be prepared to give a specific “example”)
  • There is much “at risk” in the face of climate change.  For example, there will likely be large changes to the economy of certain sectors such as recreation (less snow in winter will reduce winter sports), shipping (decreasing water levels), hunting and fishing (declining populations of fish and waterfowl, increased invasive species, changes in species distributions northward), and human health (greater heat-related deaths, increased vector-borne disease transmission). (Be prepared to give a specific “example”)
  • Solutions to mitigate the effects of climate change are available now.  Such solutions include:

  1. Reduce the risk of climate change by reducing emissions.
  2. Minimize the pressure on the environment, thus reducing the vulnerability to the impact of climate change.
  3. Prepare and plan to manage the unavoidable impacts of climate change.

  Please see the web page that contains the full report on the Great Lakes climate.  There is a wealth of background information there that can help you to answer any questions you may have, or to simply explore the topic more fully.

   

• Take the Great Lakes Climate Change Self Test

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