As disasters exacerbated by climate change ravage places around the world, it may seem like Northeast Ohio is a safe haven. We aren’t affected by rising sea levels. We don’t get hurricanes, wildfires, or deadly weeks of 110-degree heat. And we have plenty of fresh water.
Indeed, recent studies predict that northern cities like Cleveland will benefit from a mass migration of millions of people, as living conditions in the American South and Southwest become increasingly hostile and costly this century.
However, while we may be buffered from some of the worst effects of climate change, we should not be complacent. There still are plenty of impacts to worry about. Ohio’s average annual temperature has risen more than 1.5 degrees F. since the beginning of the 20th century, and unprecedented warming is expected to continue. We also have experienced a significant increase in heavy rain events. These changes contribute to the following:
Public health, especially in cities, will be negatively affected by increasing heat waves, reduced air quality, and increasing insect and waterborne diseases.
Extreme rainfall will cause flooding, erosion, and damage to homes and infrastructure. Meanwhile, greater heat and evaporation during other times could lead to more periods of drought.
Increases in heat waves, floods, droughts, insects, and weeds will present increasing challenges to managing crops, livestock, and forests.
Native plant and animal species will face increasing stresses from rapidly changing climate conditions, pests, diseases, and invasive species moving north from warmer regions.
Local public officials are already anticipating these climate threats. Public health agencies are preparing for more heat-related deaths and illnesses. Water infrastructure agencies are expecting damage from more intense rainstorms and flooding. Water quality experts are concerned about harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie that are made worse by heavy spring rains and warmer water. Hotter summer days are making air quality officials worry about increased ground-level ozone, which aggravates asthma, allergies, and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Land conservation managers are wondering if native tree species will survive rapidly shifting ecological conditions.
What about the warmer Cleveland winters we anticipate? Well, we might not like them. The lake won’t freeze as much, which means there will be more lake effect snow, and our winters will likely be snowier, slushier, messier.
So let’s not delude ourselves that climate change will be good for Cleveland. We will have plenty of negative impacts here. And, since we live in an interconnected world, we will be impacted by climate disasters elsewhere — everything from disruptions in global food supplies to increased security threats as societies are destabilized and people are displaced.
There’s no escaping the worsening global catastrophe of climate change. No matter where we live or how sheltered we may seem to be, we all have a stake (as well as a moral obligation) in advancing policy solutions that will reduce the harms — policies that reduce carbon pollution, end the use of fossil fuels as quickly as possible, and move our society toward a clean and just economy.
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