Lawmakers Debate Climate Change In D.C. As MI Forges Own Path

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The U.S. House of Representatives Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee held a hearing Thursday on the consequences of the United States pulling out of the Paris Climate Change Accord. Meanwhile, Michigan climate activists say they are forging ahead despite federal inaction. Extreme weather events like the polar vortex, mega-fires in California, flooding in Houston, and the hurricane in Puerto Rico already have brought urgency to the climate-change debate. Kate Madigan with the Michigan Climate Action Network says the effects also are being felt in the Great Lakes State.

“We’re seeing increased humidity and rainfall, especially in the spring. which leads to the flooding events that we saw in Detroit in the summer of 2014, Grand Rapids in 2013 and 2018, and in Marquette in 2018 as well.”

The water temperature of the Great Lakes also is trending upward, Madigan says. She warns could lead to more toxic algae, and eventually threaten the supply of drinking water.