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Posts Tagged ‘great lakes’

Climate change is a hot button issue, but even without playing a blame game, there is weight to the data that has been collected. The Earth will warm as it has in the past, but the repercussions will be far reaching. Within North America, the Great Lakes and global warming will interact in a way that could change the region vastly.

This area is already dealing with the deleterious affects of invasive species, and something like climate change will only act like fuel to a fire. Twenty percent of the world’s fresh water comes from the Great Lakes, it is a major source of this finite resource and any depletion will have massive and widespread repercussions.

Spending time talking about how important the Great Lakes are cannot be cast aside. Drinking water, as important and essential it is, is not the only thing the lakes provide. The region gives a huge amount of hydroelectric power to surrounding areas and is a main waterway for shipping routes. In terms of nature, it is a hub for a number of plant and animal species.

All of the benefits come hand in hand with issues that result from extended urban development. These issues include pollution, air and water, as well as the invasion of a habitat by building. Because of the growth of the last century the great lakes are in a position to be easily affected by global warming. The smallest shift in temperature can have widespread repercussions.

Increasing temperature will melt the ice cover that, at this point, is already quite thin along the lakes. No cover will increase the overall evaporation of the lakes and decrease overall water levels.

As recently as last year, the lake level of Lake Superior was at its lowest in seventy seven years and predictions for the future are estimating another three foot decrease. The effects of low water levels include restrictions to shipping and a concentration of pollutants which will damage the water quality greatly, as well as the industry for travel, leisure, and cruises.

Efforts are underway to restore the Great Lakes with billions of dollars needed to update the antique sewage systems as well as cleaning up the polluted sediment that already exists. Building up the wetland environments at the edges of the lakes will create a natural water cleanser and impediment to invasive species.

There are more repercussions from climate change other than decreasing water levels and that includes an increase in the number and ferocity of storms and drought periods. In response to these weather extremes viral transmissions can increase and pollution runoff may be increased. Within the lakes there may be more dead zones, places where there is no oxygen because of algae overgrowth.

The predicted future statistics are not encouraging. The temperature itself will be increased two to four degree centigrade with lake levels falling anywhere from 1.5 to 8 feet! Weather wise, the increase in storms may be 25%.

Making a better tomorrow really does mean being better today. Allowing for proactive measure while being realistic about future effects can mean that humans can restore luster to the Great Lakes region.

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