WITH WARMING, OHIO=THE NEW TENNESSEE

This will, perhaps, be of some comfort to Ohioans curled into their sofas amid a snowy, cold Midwestern spring.

Global warming to lower water levels in Lake Erie, scientists say
April 8, 2007 (AP via Mansfield News-Journal)

WHO
University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana atmospheric scientist Donald Wuebbles, Kent State University biologist Robert Heath, David Celebrezze of the Ohio Environmental Council

WHAT
Ohio and Lake Erie changes associated with global warming: Ohio's climate eventually will become more like Tennessee's, 3-7 foot lower water levels in Lake Erie creating serious loss of fish habitat,

WHEN
Changes become more marked later in the century: average Midwest summer temperatures increasing 5-12 degrees F., winter temperatures 5-20 degrees F.

WHERE
Warming will be, as they say, global. This article focuses on changes in Ohio and lake Erie.

WHY
The release of carbon dioxide by the burning of carbon-based fuels for energy creates a greenhouse effect, trapping solar radiation within earth’s atmosphere and driving up surface temperatures. The more carbon dioxide emissions are controlled, the longer the worst effects of climate change can be postponed. Renewable fuel sources like wind and solar minimize the burning of fossil fuels. They can also create local job growth. Energy plantations, where farmers grow plants that are converted into ethanol and other biofuels, might contribute, according to Rattan Lal, Ohio State University agricultural scientist.
Given a tax credit incentive, farmers might also switch to no-till farming: Not disturbing the soil keeps the greenhouse gas in the ground instead of releasing it into the atmosphere.

QUOTES
- "We must act now, and we must use our emerging and mainstay industries to prevent the most harmful effects of global warming," said David Celebrezze of the Ohio Environmental Council. "Ohio is part of the problem: the fourth largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions in America. Ohio can also be part of the solution."
- Kent State University biologist Robert Heath: "Our region will be better off than some others, which will become almost uninhabitable…"