30 Jun 10 The Great Lakes And Global Warming Will Result In Drastic Environmental Changes
A century worth of human innovation including the industrial revolution can wreck havoc to any environment that it comes into contact with. With leaps in scientific measurement we can now look at the world in completely new ways and a side effect of that is being able to look into the future with some certainty. Climate change is a hot topic along with its effects. The Great Lakes and global warming is a situation that will significantly change an entire region.
Global warming is not the only threat to this particular region. It is already dealing with a number if invasive species overtaking native species and altering the ecosystem. Climate change is another issue that will inform any regional policies. One of the most important roles for the region is as the producer of twenty percent of the entire planet’s fresh water.
The importance of the region cannot be downplayed. Outside of the manufacturing of drinking water, it is also a huge producer of hydroelectric power, is a thoroughfare for shipping routes, as well as being a tourist attraction. A variety of species, both plant and animal, make their home along the shore and within the lakes themselves.
All is not right in the great lakes region, however, as it has been subject to urban development over the past hundred years. This construction and urbanization has led to air and water pollution as well as habitat destruction due to the building up of cities along its shores. All of these issues make something as simple as increased temperatures potentially devastating.
Warming temperatures will increase the melting away of the ice cover that is already quite thin upon the lakes. This melting will result in an increased evaporation of the lakes themselves, bringing the water level down.
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.
Climate change is not just increased temperature and decreased water levels, it can wreck havoc on weather systems. It is proposed that within the region there will be more storms, as well as more drought seasons. This will increase pollution run off, it will act as a viral incubator and the lakes could be littered with dead zones. Dead zones are the result of algae overgrowth that creates oxygen free zones.
By the end of this current century it is believed that the temperature of the great lakes region will increase by two to four degrees, with precipitation increasing by 25%. Lake levels are predicted to fall anywhere from 1.5 to 8 feet.
Increased research into the problems that plague the region now and being proactive in preserving the lakes as they are, with a realistic eye toward the future could have humans evolving with the lakes they already hold so dear.
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Tags: climate, Education, environment, global warming, great lakes, leisure, nature, recreation, scenery, toronto, travel, Travel & Leisure, Vacation, water
