Floods, Crop Shortages, Ticks

Our climate is changing 
now. Extremely rapidly.
Expect wetter winters and springs 
with heavy rain, snow events. 
Intensity and frequency of tornadoes, 
large hail, damaging thunderstorm winds.
 
Rain events exceeding 6 inches 
now occur regularly. Flooding.
Sewage overflows. E. coli alerts. 
Beach closures. Water-borne pathogens.
Nutrient runoff. Algal blooms. 
Great stress on water infrastructure. 
 
I have just returned from Washington, D.C.
The White House says “We don’t believe you” but
 
changes in precipitation affecting farmers. 
Planting delays caused by spring flooding, 
excessively wet soil conditions. Delayed planting
puts crops at risk during hot, drier conditions.
Will likely reduce crop yields for soybean
and maize by 10-30% mid-century.
 
More events. More rain. Exceeding 
capacity of culverts and storm sewers.
Lake level variability high, affecting
marinas, docks, shoreline homes. 
Vulnerability of beaches, shorelines 
and bluffs to erosion. Wave damage. 
 
Both parties get it but don’t want to do anything
until the political climate is such they don’t feel
they are committing political suicide.  
 
Shifts in length of season. Increasing concerns
about invasive species. Ranges shifting 
for sport and baitfish. Parasites, especially ticks, 
surviving in greater number. White-footed mice, 
carrier of known pathogen for Lyme, to colonize 
new areas, including southern Michigan and Quebec.
 
I volunteer my time because our children
and grandchildren will bear the burden 
of our decisions.
 
They already are.

My note to Congressmen Fred Upton and Bill Huizenga: “Addressing climate change must be a priority. I am not a scientist but I see what is happening to our lakeside communities, dependent in part on tourism, in part on farming. We are under water.”

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A Found Photo Poem

A poem found in the words of Dr. Donald J. Wuebbies, Professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Illinois, as spoken (in italics) at the June 2019 meeting of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative and published in the report, “An Assessment of the Impacts of Climate Change on the Great Lakes,” Accompanying photos found in Park, Laketown, and Saugatuck Townships.