Important conversations about the Laurentian #greatlakes today. If it were a separate country, the #GreatLakes basin would be the third largest #economy in the world and freshwater is its fuel. As #climatechange makes #water scarce, people will seek refuge in the basin. Time is ticking - we must plan & prepare. #SciencePlan
@girls_can Most of the climate change predictions I have seen leave this area with some of the least negative outcomes. It is going to become a huge refuge, IMO. I already refer to being in a rural refugia.
@Alienated53 yes! Tolerable summer heat and abundant freshwater will make the #GreatLakes a haven. We need to be planning for climate driven immigration by people and industry. It takes a lot of water in manufacturing! How will we conserve and protect our freshwater while welcoming climate refugees from more hard hit areas?
@girls_can How many in the #GreatLakesBasin have any concept of the pressure that may exist in just a few years. The regulatory framework needed to guide a sustainable population growth will be a massive undertaking. What I've read makes it likely that within a decade much of the deep south and SW will be nearly uninhabitable. Controlling the influx from these areas should be a major planning issue today. But 66% of my neighbors are MAGA voters, so a challenge. 😬 #climatechange
@Alienated53 I think the International Joint Commission is pushing for preparedness, but it’s down to voters to make their politicians act. We need politicians to fund the science necessary to get us ready and to keep us from unmanageable growth that erodes the health of the Lakes from which we all derive our prosperity
@girls_can You are in Canada, I am in the US. So many jurisdictions involved will complicate planning and implementation. Afraid I have little faith in our current capitalist system to handle this well.