Earth has a dozen years to turn climate change around, according to the recent United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report. Responses to the report give us insight into the political climate, as well as the actual climate, in the Buckeye State.
“Climate change is already happening in the greater Cleveland region,” and it “threatens the biodiversity,” stated Brian Parsons, Director of Planning and Special Projects at Holden Arboretum in the Cleveland area, who spelled out his findings in a 2007 article. Parsons pointed out that “temperatures in the region are increasing” and so are “extreme heat events.” Equally troubling are “heavy precipitation” and also “winters are becoming shorter.”
Well, that doesn’t sound that bad. But Ohioans can expect more flooding from storms, and in the future, increased demands to suck fresh water out of the Great Lakes to share with drought regions in the South and Southwest United States. All this will occur with faster and faster rates of climate change. If we fail to turn it around, Ohio will lose much of the ecological diversity in our flora, fauna and animals.
