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.
Already dealing with the onslaught of invasive species, global warming will only add additional pressure to the Great Lakes region. These vast reservoirs of fresh water account for twenty percent of the total amount of fresh water on the planet, a resource that will become scarcer in the future.
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 of the benefits come hand in hand with issues that result from extended urban development. These issues include pollution, air and water, as well as the invasion of a habitat by building. Because of the growth of the last century the great lakes are in a position to be easily affected by global warming. The smallest shift in temperature can have widespread repercussions.
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.
Water loss has already been occurring and it was found last year the Lake Superior’s levels were at their lowest in seventy seven years. If the lakes decrease by the purported additional meter in the future, shipping routes will be severely disrupted and the water itself will diminish in quality due to the concentration of pollutants. The travel industry such as cruises will also be negatively affected.
At the present, there are preliminary measure being discussed to restore the grandeur to the Great Lakes, but it will require billions of dollars over a number of years. Updating antiquated sewage treatment systems and cleaning up the already polluted sediment will be coupled with a natural buildup of wetlands that will act as a natural filter and barrier from 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.
Making a better tomorrow really does mean being better today. Allowing for proactive measure while being realistic about future effects can mean that humans can restore luster to the Great Lakes region.
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