- Climate change already is affecting the Great Lakes region, with longer, drier summers and warmer, wetter winters
- Several communities across Michigan are attempting to tackle the effects of climate change through zoning and other means
- Kalamazoo’s efforts focus on the low-income residents most likely to feel the worst effects of climate change
KALAMAZOO ― There’s no place like home … except when stormwater drizzles through your roof or a heat wave turns a poorly insulated bedroom into an oven.
While many think of climate change as a far-off threat, already-changing weather patterns are decreasing water quality, increasing illness, and worsening air pollution now. The physically and financially most vulnerable residents feel such effects the most ― with the least ability to do anything about it.
If conditions continue at the current pace, the Great Lakes region will increasingly see warmer, wetter winters and drier, longer summers, according to researchers at the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The in-between seasons will be longer and stormier, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency…