by Staff Writers Ann Arbor MI (SPX) Jan 21, 2013 In the coming
decades, climate change will lead to more frequent and more
intense Midwest heat waves while degrading air and water quality
and threatening public health. Intense rainstorms and floods
will become more common, and existing risks to the Great Lakes
will be exacerbated. Those are some of the conclusions contained
in the Midwest chapter of a draft report released last week by
the federal government that assesses the key impacts of climate
change on every region in the country and analyzes its likely
effects on human health, water, energy, transportation,
agriculture, forests, ecosystems and biodiversity. Three
University of Michigan researchers were lead convening authors
of chapters in the 1,100-plus-page National Climate Assessment,
which was written by a team of more than 240 scientists.
University of Michigan aquatic ecologist Donald Scavia was a
lead convening author of the Midwest chapter. Dan Brown of the
School of Natural Resources and Envir