Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Walker Turns Blind Eye To Climate Change, Great Lakes Experts, Businesses Do Not

Scott Walker pledges inertia on climate change to the fossil-fuel Kings - - the Koch brothers - - but business and other experts understand that rising temperatures have forced down the levels of the Great Lakes, threatening many industries:

...the Great Lakes are recording all-time low water levels, posing economic threats to numerous industries that rely on the lakes water supply, including, tourism, hydroelectric generation and recreational boating...
This drop in lake levels, is far more concerning due to its potential to shake economic framework. Multiple entities have invested use of the lakes and the lake water, including, commercial navigation, hydroelectric generation, coastal zoning, recreational boating and marinas, the tourism industry and the lake's ecosystems, according to the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources & Environment.  
A frequent topic on this blog for six years, such as this item from June, 2007:
Declining lake levels is among the leading problems that can undermine economies from Minnesota to Quebec to New York state.
And later that year, multiple examples were catalogued:

Shippers Losing Millions As Great Lakes Water Levels Drop 
Shallower Great Lakes mean multi-million dollar losses for shipping companies whose more profitable, fully-loaded cargo freighters run the risk of running aground.

2 comments:

enoughalready said...

I don't know if he won any awards for doing this, but he should have. In September of 2004, National Geographic's William L. (Bill) Allen wrote the following "From the Editor:"

After a decade as Editor in Chief, I have a pretty good idea which articles will provoke a lot of angry letters. Whenever we publish stories that challenge widely held beliefs, some readers get mad, and they write to let us know.

Well, we're about to do it again. We're devoting 74 pages of this issue to a three-part series of stories on global climate change, and I'd be willing to bet that we'll get letters from readers who don't believe global climate change is real, and that humans contribute to the problem. Some readers will even terminate their memberships.

Why would I publish articles that make people angry enough to stop subscribing? That's easy. These stories cover subjects that are too important to ignore. From Antarctica to Alaska to Bangladesh, a global warming trend is altering habitats, with devastating ecological and economic effects.

So I'm asking you -- even those of you who don't believe the Earth is getting warmer and that human behavior is a contributing factor -- to turn to page 2. This isn't science fiction or a Hollywood movie. We're not going to show you waves swamping the Statue of Liberty. But we are going to take you all over the world to show you the hard truth as scientists see it. I can live with some canceled memberships. I'd have a harder time looking at myself in the mirror if I didn't bring you the biggest story in geography today.

Anonymous said...

Are you saying that Port of Milwaukee is too shallow for full boats?