A new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists outlines the potential affects of Climate Change on Missouri if significant changes are not made soon. The report identifies several environmental threats and predicts their severity according to two different scenarios, one in which we manage to curb emissions, and other in which emissions continue their rise. It then offers a plan for Missouri to minimize it’s contribution to global warming.

The first global-warming related threat the report discusses is also the most direct, heat. The report’s main metric for heat is the increase in the number of days above 90 and 100 degrees each summer. According the low-emission level prediction, such days would increase to around 60 a year by the end of the century. The high-emission prediction shows that level being passed about midway through the century, with more than a hundred days over 90 degrees each summer come 2100. The report makes frequent reference to the 1995 Chicago heat wave, caused by a mere 7 straight days over 90 degrees, which killed between 450 to 700 people. The report warns that, under the high-emissions scenario, such events would occur regularly in Saint Louis, happening at least six times a summer by the end of the century.

The second threat the report assesses is that of flooding and drought. With increased heat, precipitation will be less frequent but more intense, with Fall, Winter, and Spring becoming wetter, while Summers get drier. While the danger of long-term droughts will decrease, short term droughts will increase, as most rain that falls will be in the form of intense downpours. These downpours will lead to increased flooding and decreased water quality, as the heavier rains cause more runoff and overflowing the sewers, causing pollutants and raw sewage to enter the waterways.

The final threat the report looks at is the threat global warming poses to Missouri’s agricultural industry. While increased temperatures will lead to a longer growing season, any benefit would fail to counteract the large amounts of crops lost to heat stress. Corn crops can fail at 95 degrees, and as extended periods of extreme heat become more frequent, so does crop failure. Another threat Missouri farmers would face as temperatures increase is crop pests like the corn ear-worm spreading north. Normally, corn ear-worms can only thrive one out of every three years in southern Missouri, and once a decade in northern Missouri. In addition, the changes in precipitation described above could devastate Missouri’s farmers. Only 7% of Missouri farms have access to irrigation, so between spring flooding and summertime droughts Missouri farmers are likely to lose a good deal of their crops, much more than they would stand to gain from the longer growing season.

The report then moves on to describe several steps Missouri has taken to reduce it’s impact on global warming, as well as outlining several programs Missouri could adopt to further decrease it’s global warming impact. The proposals are as follows:

1. Duplicate programs started in other Midwestern states that require utilities to assist customers in implementing energy efficient projects.
2. Improve the building codes statewide in order to make buildings more efficient.
3. Acknowledging that some global warming is inevitable, Missouri must work to make it’s communities more adaptable to change.
4. Missouri should work closely with the Federal government to improve environmental standards both in the state and Nationwide.

Click here for the full report from the Union of Concern Scientists >

The posts and comments here are the views of the authors. SSL reserves the right to delete spam or other offensive material.

Tags: climate change, Union of Concerned Scientists

Back to Communities