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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Small Midwestern States To Be Hit Hardest By Climate Change: Report
  • Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:31:26 -0600


Small Midwestern States To Be Hit Hardest By Climate Change: Report
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/27/small-midwestern-states-t_n_270540.html
Updated: 08-27-09 06:04 PM

The politics of climate change are difficult in the Senate, it's often said,
because it's a regional issue: coal state senators are afraid their economies
will be driven under if the price of dirty energy rises too quickly.

Climate change is, in fact, a regional issue, but not in the short-term way
that the coal senators think, according to new analysis from The Nature
Conservancy. The environmental group finds that rural Midwestern states will
face the greatest consequences of climate change. The three that will face
the steepest rise in temperature -- Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa -- are farm
states whose soil will be significantly less productive as temperatures rise
more than 10 degrees Fahrenheit there by 2100.

The rise by by 2050 -- only 41 years from now -- is also projected to be
substantial. (Click here for an interactive map of the analysis.)

The two Republican senators from Kansas, which will be most ravaged by
climate change, are unlikely to support legislation addressing it.

Sen. Sam Brownback, who is retiring from the Senate but continues to have
statewide ambitions, has said that humanity has a religious imperative to
reduce climate emissions, but he has also signed on to the "No Climate Tax
Pledge" being pushed by Americans for Prosperity, which opposes climate
change legislation. The pledge says that Brownback will "oppose legislation
relating to climate change that includes a net increase in government
revenue" -- which means any of the plans currently being considered.

Sen. Pat Roberts will also be a difficult vote for advocates to score.

In Nebraska, Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson often works to pull legislation in a
more conservative direction and Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) isn't clamoring to
support taking action to address climate change. Nelson signed a letter
earlier this year calling for climate change legislation to be put off.

Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the state that will face the third
worst catastrophe, will be a key player on the Finance Committee, which hopes
to claim jurisdiction over the distribution of the revenue that will be
raised through a cap and trade system. His Democratic counterpart, Sen. Tom
Harkin, is a much more likely yes vote.
Story continues below

The consequences to these farm states will be far reaching. As droughts
become more common, their soil and climate will begin to look more like their
neighbors' to the south in Texas and Mexico.

The ten-degree rise in temperature in the three states assumes that carbon
emissions will continue their rate of increase. If the world's population
somehow manages to reverse greenhouse gas emissions, the temperature is still
expected to rise more than three degrees, which would still devastate those
states' economies. A study released Thursday by Columbia University adds
further concern about the viability of soybeans, corn and cotton -- the
expected temperature rise over the next century from even a slow warming
scenario could decrease crop yields by 30 to 46 percent.

"To many, climate change doesn't seem real until it affects them, in their
backyards," said Jonathan Hoekstra, director of climate change for The Nature
Conservancy. "In many states across the country, the weather and landscapes
could be nearly unrecognizable in 100 years."


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  • [Livingontheland] Small Midwestern States To Be Hit Hardest By Climate Change: Report, Tradingpost, 08/27/2009

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