A Climate Change Preview Underway in Michigan

Water is encroaching on neighborhoods and shorelines in Detroit at rare levels. Those impacts and many more are considered only a preview of what's to come when the worst effects of climate change strike the Great Lakes region.

1 minute read

July 19, 2019, 2:00 PM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


"Anyone who doubts that climate change could deliver a nasty shock to Michigan's economy need only take a stroll along the Detroit riverfront these days," according to an article by John Gallagher.

Experts disagree whether high lake levels and heavy rains that have been the reality of the spring and summer in Michigan can be directly traced to climate change, according to Gallagher, but experts do agree that the worst of climate change is yet to come. And that means, "the kind of problems we're seeing now because of high lake levels and abundant spring rainfall give a hint to what Michigan will endure from full-blown climate change one day."

Detroit has been sandbagging properties in the Jefferson-Chalmers neighborhood on the far lowest east side. "And far from the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair, Michigan farmers have been dealing with soggy fields produced by the spring downpours," according to Gallagher.

Tuesday, July 16, 2019 in The Detroit Free Press

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