Climate
Great Lakes Month in Review: drought, farming, climate change
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Current State discusses recent environmental stories with commentator Gary Wilson.
Great Lakes Echo (http://greatlakesecho.org/tag/drought/)
Current State discusses recent environmental stories with commentator Gary Wilson.
An increasing number of workers from Eastern Europe are finding jobs in the farm industry in Michigan, but the increase isn’t enough to allay concerns of labor shortage.
Great Lakes advocates should focus less on federal funding and more on state issues, such as mining threats, groundwater conservation and risky oil shipments.
The Great Lakes’ record-low water levels are rightly receiving all of the attention now, but evidence is growing that Michigan’s fragile groundwater resources are quietly becoming a concern for the future. Robert Glennon, professor of law and public policy at the University of Arizona and author of “Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What to do About It,” knows Michigan well and shares his insights. Echo has reported on the consequences of drought on Great Lakes groundwater – which can also be seen on this map – and the challenge of measuring its effects. The need for better groundwater conservation continues to be a widely overlooked issue facing the Basin.
The drought plaguing the country continues to sap the groundwater and soil water of the Great Lakes region, according to new NASA satellite data. The two maps, constructed using data from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellites, show low near-surface and subterranean water levels across the region between January 8 and 14, 2013. These satellites have been used to examine surface soil and ground water levels since they were launched in 2002. While not as low as some areas of the southeast or west, much of the region remains below the 1948-2009 average. Average levels are denoted by white space on the maps, while above-average is blue and below-average appears red.
Budget constraints and a belief that existing legal solutions to the disputes are sufficient nixed an aquifer protection program, but critics of the decision say the program worked well and is needed.
The drought of 2012 will affect Christmas tree farmers in the Great Lakes eight to nine years from now.
That’s because the dry landscape was bad for planting new trees.
Michigan ranks only behind Oregon and North Carolina in the national tree market.
Despite recent rains, the 2012 drought – the most destructive in 50 years – has driven many Michigan dairy farmers into “survival mode”.
The dry weather reduced crop yields, tightening the feed supply.
Low Great Lakes water means shippers have to lighten their loads. Vessels have run aground this summer and utility officials say operational costs increase when they have to import lighter and more numerous loads of coal.
The threat from a metallic green beetle is quickly spreading throughout the ash trees of the Great Lakes region.
It’s so bad that federal officials have stopped spending money on surveys for the invasive beetle.