Climate Change – What does it mean for the region?
Addressing climate change - is addressing sustainability from the big
picture. Increasingly higher greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere
destabilize our global weather conditions and the composition of our
oceans.
Though some county residents joke that a little global warming is
welcome, climate destabilization adversely affects northeast Ohio:
- Increasing Lake Erie average water temperature
- Reducing precipitation but increasing weather variability
- Reducing all Great Lakes depths but particularly Lakes Erie & Ontario
- Increasing respiratory & cardiac disease
- Reducing or eliminating plants & animals that can’t adapt quickly to the new land & water environments
- Increasing insect hosted disease outbreaks
- Requiring farm communities to change plant species grown or reduce yields
- Increasing
costs of transportation, healthcare, utilities, food, homes, and
entertainment to cover additional expenses created by global purchasing
policies, increased business regulations or subsidies.
- Increasing cost of living
Other areas of the country are affected more profoundly.
Unchecked, climate destabilization will affect us all. Anyone under 65
years of age has an excellent chance of seeing it. Visit the
Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change
website and read the November 2007, AR4 Synthesis Report, Summary for
Policy Makers for global effects of climate change and time projections
to effect change.
However, awareness followed by action today will stabilize conditions
for today’s 30-year-old’s (our children & grandchildren). So what
has been achieved and what more can be done?