Missing Winter
Tags: climate change, fuel efficiency standards, Michigan, mild winter, Renewable Energy Standard
A few weeks ago, the groundhog saw his shadow and we were told to expect six more weeks of winter, to which I replied, "what winter?"
Ann Arbor is expected to get up to five inches of snow on Friday, and I say it's about time. I've been able to take my cross-county skis out exactly once this winter, and I had to carry them on the way back because the snow was already melting. It's not just my own outdoor recreation that's taken a hit this winter, though: businesses across the state which rely on outdoor tourism have taken a hit, too.
A recent Gaylord Herald-Times article profiled Larry Sevenski, owner of a restaurant that caters to snowmobilers. He said that this winter has been the worst in over thirty years, and the National Weather Service announced that Gaylord is four feet short of its annual snowfall average this year. The Petoskey Winter Carnival was even cancelled last week due to a lack of snow (they'll try again on Saturday).
This unusually mild winter could be trouble for wetlands, too. This CBC Canada article quotes McMaster University wetland ecologist Pat Chow-Fraser who warns that low ice cover on Lake Superior allows more water to evaporate and less to flow into the lake's coastal wetlands, which could affect spawning rates for Great Lakes fish.
I'm not a scientist, so I'm not qualified to attribute the specific events of this winter to climate change. The Union of Concerned Scientists are scientists, though (it's right there in the name), and they predict that climate change will result in wetter winters with more rain and snowfall, but less ice and snow cover due to faster melts, as detailed in this Huron River Watershed Council newsletter.
In short, we can expect more winters like this if we keep filling our atmosphere with heat-trapping greenhouse gases. That may seem alright to folks who dislike snow, but then why live in Michigan if you don't like snow? It's not just snow that will be missing, though: climate change means fewer wetlands for ducks, warmer streams devoid of coldwater trout, and more diseases in deer herds.
97% of climate scientists agree that climate change is happening and that it is caused by burning fossil fuels. All is not lost, though. Fuel efficiency standards agreed to by the EPA and the Big Three auto-makers, among others, will reduce emissions from the cars we drive and the EPA's mercury standards will reduce emissions from coal plants. We can reduce those even more in Michigan, while creating tens of thousands of jobs and making the air we breathe healthier, by passing the Renewable Energy Standard proposed for this November's ballot.
All it will take is for us to start listening to scientists more often than groundhogs about climate and weather.
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