There are plenty of scary climate change predictions about what could be coming our way in the future. So what is a person to do? Move to Michigan.
That's at least one takeaway from a thought provoking article in Popular Science magazine.
Freelance author Peter Hess said he combined many peer reviewed studies, on matters from insects to severe weather and more, then used averages to settle on potential impacts.
He found living conditions could become more difficult in many parts of the country by the year 2100. But Michigan?
“It does look like Michigan is in a protected bubble at least up until 2100,” he said. “The research we reviewed for this story showed Michigan being pretty much in the clear. We see weather events and environmental effects we usually associate with a tropical climate gradually moving north. At least by 2100, those won’t have hit Michigan yet. But based on these predictions, it seems reasonable to expect that maybe in the following century they will.”
“We don’t want people to think this is some sort of Doomsday prediction,” Hess said. “What this means is not that you are going to be overrun with mosquitoes or that your plant life will wither. What it means is there is a higher likelihood of these things becoming a little more severe.”
Hess also points out there is time to change the dire course he outlined in the magazine. For example, curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
“While it will take some time to see results from that, it’s worth doing immediately,” he said. “It takes a ship a long time to slow down or turnaround.”
